


Unspoken

by FlamboyantlyBiBoy



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Unwind Dystology - Neal Shusterman
Genre: Abuse, F/M, Gore, Kidnapping, M/M, Organ Theft, Slash, organ exploration, parts pirates, sexual discussions, teenage parenting, unwind alternative dimension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 16:32:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 70
Words: 58,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2075163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlamboyantlyBiBoy/pseuds/FlamboyantlyBiBoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico and the seven get stuck in a nightmare of a world where teenagers can be retroactively aborted. They are scattered across North America and fight to find each other, survive, and ultimately end unwinding while exploring feelings of family, friendship, and romance. And all because Jason couldn’t keep his mouth shut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1-Dead On Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> This is written for the Riptide PJO Big Bang on tumblr.

 

**Statistic Verification**  
  
---  
  
Source: Children’s Bureau, National Children’s Alliance, Child Help,  
  
Date Verified: 1.2.2014  
  
Child abuse is the physical, sexual or emotional maltreatment or neglect of a child or children. Child abuse can occur in a child’s home, or in the organizations, schools or communities the child interacts with. There are four major categories of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, and sexual abuse.  
  
  
  
  


**Child Abuse Statistics**

| 

**Data**  
  
---|---  
  
Number of children annually who are abused

| 

681,000  
  
Number of children annually who received preventative services from Child Protective Services

| 

3,300,000  
  
Number of children that die every day as a result of child abuse

| 

4  
  
Percent of abused children that will later abuse their own children

| 

30 %  
  
Annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States

| 

$124,000,000,000  
  
Percent of homeless youth that ran away to escape abuse

| 

46 %  
  
**Type of Child Abuse**

| 

**Percent of Cases**  
  
Neglect

| 

78.5 %  
  
Physical Abuse

| 

17.6 %  
  
Sexual Abuse

| 

9.1 %  
  
Psychological Maltreatment

| 

9 %  
  
Medical Neglect

| 

2.2 %  
  
Other / Unknown

| 

10.6 %  
  
**Relationship**  
  
Parent

| 

80.9 %  
  
Nonparent

| 

16.4 %  
  
Unknown

| 

2.9 %


	2. Ch. 1-Jason

Jason’s pulled from his rest by a hand on his ankle. By reflex, he kicks, feeling his heel connect with the man’s crotch. Before he can do much more than scramble into a sitting position, hands grab his ankles and wrists.

He continues fighting. In the dark, he can’t tell where he is or what’s going on. Jason knows he’s naked on a bed with only a blanket covering him from the two strangers’ sights.

When the light flips on, he flinches. As his eyes adjust, he’s able to take in his surroundings; a simple bedroom with dark purple walls, a desk, a bookshelf without many books on it, the bed he’s laying on, and nothing else. Not even a window.

As he’d expected, there’s a man holding his wrists, and another holding his ankles. Both appear to be cops. Jason looks up as his eyes finish adjusting, and he notices a third man observing their struggle. This man isn’t a cop, not in his business suit with his brief case.

The cop behind Jason grabs his hair, making him look at the suit. He steps closer, and Jason realizes that the suit is a woman, despite her masculine appearance. She takes a hold of his chin, looking over his face the same she would a piece of fruit at a grocery store. After several minutes, she nods to the cops, “We’ll use his left eye, and have him take the aptitude tests. Maybe some of his hair.” The rest of her words come directed to him, “Too bad about the scar, your lips are lovely.”

  
Her words confuse Jason, making his heart race, “You can’t have them. I’m still using them.”

No one takes notice of his words.

The cop holding his ankles lets go as Jason has stopped struggling, and pulls out a sheet of paper with gusto like this is his favorite part of whatever’s happening, “Verbally confirm that you are Jason Adolphus Ramirez-Arellano.”

Jason simply gaps at him. Why was he using Reyna’s last name?

“Verbal confirmation that you are-”

“Yes!” the blond cries, struggling again. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but odds are he would just keep pushing until Jason agreed no matter what.

The cop smirks, and starts reading, “Jason Adolphus Ramirez-Arellano, by the signing of this order, your parents and/or legal guardians have retroactively terminated your tenure, backdating to six days postconception, leaving you in violation of Existential Code 390. In light of this, you are hereby remanded to the California Juvenile Authority for summary division, also known as unwinding. Any rights previously granted to you by the county, state, or federal government as a citizen thereof are now officially and permanently revoked.”

Jason’s mind, still foggy from sleep, takes a minute to process the large words, “Whoa, wait...what?”

  
He’s hauled to his feet before being released, “Put your clothes on.”

  
When Jason simply stands there, the lead cop pulls a gun from it’s holster and cocks it. The teen’s heart jumps, and his hands fly up in reflex, “Whoa! Okay, okay! Putting clothes on.”

  
Jason goes over to the closet, grabbing the first pair of jeans he can find and a random shirt. After pulling both on, not bothering with underwear, he grabs a leather jacket and pulls on some sneakers, “Okay, clothes on.”

  
The follower cop grabs Jason’s wrists, handcuffing them together behind his back before pushing him out of the room. Outside, he can’t recognize the living room or the adults standing there; a man and a woman with tears in their eyes.

  
“What can we say, Jay?” The man starts, and Jason just stares at him, “You’re so smart, but the fights, the anger, the stunts. You’re a danger to yourself and those around you. We know you’re searching for purpose, that you don’t think you belong because you’re a stork, but we’re putting an end to this BDD.”

  
BDD? The acronym doesn’t sit well with Jason. It feels like another learning disability label pushed on kids just to make them struggle more.

  
Before he can offer a confused answer or the lady can speak, a cry comes from upstairs. Jason turns the best he can with the cop still holding his arms, to see her standing there. Reyna, with her long shiny black hair pulled up in a high braid, wearing sleeping pants and a tanktop. There’s something different in her eyes, however, shimmery flecks of red in those brown pools.

  
She screams again and another girl Jason doesn’t know rushes out to hold Reyna back from running down the stairs, “Jason! No, you can’t take him! Jason! Hylla, let me go!”

  
Hylla tries to pull the other back out of sight, “It’s for his own good, Reyna.”

  
“Rey!” Jason screams, fighting his captors again, but they manage to pull him out of the house. He’s manhandled into the back of a police car.

  
The blond doesn’t know what’s going on. Morpheus said they’d suffer through their worst nightmare. This certainly isn’t pleasant, but how is this their worst nightmare?  
He jumps as the front seat doors slam shut. Jason can see the lady getting into another car, talking on a cell phone. He never thought he’d be sitting handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser, especially leaving Reyna behind with a bunch of strangers. There’s nothing he can do, however. He leans forward to talk to the cops, “What are you doing with me? I didn’t hear any charges.”

  
“We told you, kid, your tenure has been terminated.” The lead cop answers. Jason’s starting to hate all these vague answers. He leans back, getting as comfortable as he can with his hands still behind his back which really isn’t comfortable at all.

  
Jason’s trying his best to act nonchalant--that he isn’t scared. But he is. He doesn’t know what’s happening or where the others are.

  
He can tell the city outside that window in San Francisco, but with larger buildings and less nature. The subtle changes to his home are unnerving. They cause possibly even more fear in him than the arrest. This isn’t his home.

  
As they turn onto a highway, Jason gazes up at the billboards flashing by. Some new movie with a star who has mismatched eyes; the latest expansion to Disney World; a brain transplant promising instant educational improvement.

  
The car jerks to a stop in traffic, momentarily distracting Jason from his observations. He notices the small gaggle of dark vans surrounding the cop car, but ignores them.

  
Looking back up, Jason studies the bright purple advertisement twinkling above them. It features a boy in handcuffs with needle-bruises covering his arms. The words in sprawling cursive next to him reads: _Unruly teen? Unable to tame those wild antics that endanger himself and those around him?_ The scene changes to an almost blinding white light with light pink words: _No more. The only cure for your child’s Biosystematic Disunification Disorder is to help sooth them into a divided state._

Something clicks in Jason’s mind, a dark realization that he should have realized before, that everything’s been point at. _They want to take me apart!_

  
Before he can do more than make the realization, the car jerks, throwing him against the front seats. Jason can smell the burning rubber from squealed tires. He looks up at the sound of gun shots to see the cops slump over. Desperately, Jason throws himself against his door several times but it won’t budge.

  
One of the large vans he noticed before had rammed into them from the right side, and another from the back. Jason pushes himself against the right hand door as a masked figure approached his door. As it opens, he rockets himself forward, managing to get past the man, and he makes a running break for the woods at the edge of the interstate.

  
Just as he reaches the edge of the road, a sharp pain erupts in his left thigh. Jason barely recognizes falling to his face and knees before passing out.


	3. Ch. 2-Nico

As soon as Nico wakes up, he knows something is wrong. He hasn’t slept in a bed like this for years—all fluffy blankets and pillows in gleaming shades of white—but most notably the girl leaning over him.

Her long black hair greets Nico as a beautiful curtain. Then it’s her eyes, brown like his but sparkling with life and happiness.

Nico’s voice cracks as he whispers, “B-bianca?”

“Get up, Silly Goose.” She laughs, “Moms have breakfast ready and then the car will be here.”

She bounces off the bed, letting him see the rest of the room. It’s all shades of white around him with the occasional accent of gold.

Nico’s gaze gets obstructed by a mass of white cloth. He can hear Bianca giggling happily; a sound that almost makes him break down sobbing. Of course Morpheus would do this too him, bring all the pain back to his surface.

“Get dressed, Angelo.” Bianca giggles, rushing out of the room.

He sits down for a minute, gazing down at the cloth in his lap. It doesn’t deserve the term “clothing” as it’s only a clump of white fabric; no texture, color, or variety. It’s just straight cotton pants with elastic to hold them up, and a poncho-like shirt of pure white.

Nico doesn’t want to put them on but there’s nothing else in the closet besides the equally white tennis shoes. Even his sleeping clothes are white.

Reluctantly, Nico pulls them on. He knows beyond that door is Bianca—and probably their mom—and wearing white would be worth spending time with them again. He opens the door, wondering down the hallway and into a kitchen.

Bianca sits at a bar stool, watching two women cook breakfast. One is his mom with long black hair, bright chocolate eyes, and olive toned skin. The other, however, feels like a stab in the heart. She looks like a grown up Hazel; soft caramel skin, curly brown hair, small spindly hands, technicolor eyes.

“Nico, dear, come eat. You’ll need your strength for today.” His mom smiles, offering him a plate of pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and a banana.

He’s not really hungry, but Nico sits next to his sister and starts picking at the food. Still, he keeps watching the ladies. It seems like something’s wrong with how they’re whispering together. Nico tries to listen in, but all he can catch is a few words.

“He hasn’t even noticed-“

“He’s acting a little off.”

“Bi isn’t-“

“Maybe they plotted-“

“He’d be terrified to go alone.”

Bianca whispers to him, breaking Nico out of his concentration, “Are you okay, fratello piccolo?”

“Si, faccio stanco.” Nico mutters back, looking down at his food. He’s not lying, he is tired. He is surprised by how much he’s eaten without thinking about it. He knows it probably won’t stall on for long.

“Nico, honey.”

He looks up into her technicolor eyes that make him ache to know what happened to Hazel.

“Have you seen Hazel this morning?”

“No, signora.” Nico shakes his head.

“Do you know where she went?”

Again he shakes his head. He’s not really focused on the questions, however, one thought stays the focal point in his mind: _Hazel’s supposed to be here and she’s not._  
Nico looks down as his mother takes the other woman’s arm, “He doesn’t know anything, mi amore.”

As they leave the kitchen, Nico watches them. Things are starting to fall into place in his mind, still hearing his mother call another woman “my love” freaks him out. Nico’d always been told that homosexuality is a sin, and now he sees his Madre—who told him such things—comforting another woman.

He jumps as the door slams shut. As their mom reenters the kitchen, Bianca suggests, “Madre, why don’t you tell Nico a story before he leaves?”

She looks down at her son—seeing how freaked out he is—and nods, “Come on, mio angelo, we have some time before they get here.”

Nico smiles slightly, taking her hand. He always loved hearing her stories when he was little. She leads him into the living room—a beautifully one with bright colors—and sits down on the couch. Nico hesitates for a second before lying down with his head in her lap.

Her fingers tangle in his hair as she starts talking, “Exactly thirteen years ago, I was laying in a hospital bed—covered in sweat and who knows what else—with the nurse holding a wailing little boy. You, my little angel, were even more of a mess than I was but when he put you in my arms that didn’t matter. You stopped crying, and you just looked up at me with those big brown eyes. Then you yawned, like you were completely unimpressed with the world and went to sleep.”

Nico smiles; lying here, like this, with her holding him and Bianca in the kitchen, he feels at home. The happiness builds in his chest, making him feel like he’s choking.  
“Then later in that room with all the babies in line, and you just laid there, sleeping like a perfect little angel. And next to you, the prettiest little girl with chocolate curls and dark skin. Then her mom was next to me, just as beautiful as she.” Her fingers stall in his hair, “You saved us all; physically for Bianca, but you made your mom and I meet. Without you, we wouldn’t have found love, Hazel would have ended up on some stranger’s doorstep. I don’t care what anybody else says, you two are twins, you’re family. You’ve been raised as such, and we…wanted you two to go into the world together.”

“Momma?” Nico asks softly, looking up at her. She’s crying and he sits up to hug her, “We’ll be okay.”

“I know, baby.” She answers, cuddling him close, “I love you, mio angelo.”

“I love you too, momma.”

Just then, the doorbell rings. Nico’s mom smiles at him softly, “Go get your bag, Nico.”

He slowly lets go, and heads back into the bedroom. It feels less alien now. There’s a white bag at the end of the bed that he grabs. Looking inside, he finds a couple more sets of clothes, and a music player the size of a chocolate chip. He’s not really sure where he’s going, but Nico grabs two blankets and any money he can find just in case he isn’t coming back.

Nico walks back towards the front door where his mom and Bianca stand there with man in a driver’s outfit. They both hug him, telling him that they love him, before the man leads him out to a limo.

Inside, he finds two other kids in the same white cloth he’s wearing. Nico looks back at the front door as the car door closes, and realizes for the first time that Bianca isn’t wearing white; she’s wearing a pair of jeans and a light blue shirt. Before they drive away, she closes the front door.

He looks back at the other two kids in the limo with him; a girl and a boy. They look like brother and sister, biological twins maybe. Nico’s mom had said she believes he and Hazel are twins, but he knows they aren’t. They’re only treated like twins here. Nico turns back to the window, ignoring the others.

Unfortunately, his mind wanders to the others; where they are, what they’re doing, how they’re going to find each other. He thinks about Percy, and how scared he’d been at the idea of their deal with Morpheus. Then Jason, eagerly jumping into any challenge, trying to prove himself. Part of him feels anger towards Hazel; clearly, they’re supposed to be together right now, but she ran off. However, most of him worries about her safety.

He’d expected to worry about those three—his sister, the one person who’d truly been nice to him from the beginning, and the crush of three years—but it surprises him that the next person he thinks about is the son of Hephaestus. Nico could feel the pain from Leo before, and part of him wanted to help, but the Latino just made it so hard to approach to get close to him with all his silly jokes. Still, he worries about Leo now, wanting to protect him.

Outside, the city looks like Vegas, but Nico can’t bring himself to care. Before long, they leave the city, and start racing through back roads. Nico closed his eyes, leaning his head back to just ignore the world for a while. Unfortunately, that doesn’t last long. The road turns rocky and bumpy, making all three of the occupants grab a hold of the seat backs. This is exactly why Nico hates riding in cars.

They stop, and the door opens quickly. A man hushed voice calls to them, “Hurry up, and get inside before somebody spots you.”

The twins hesitate. This clearly isn’t what they were expecting. Nico, however, never having any expectations, dives out of the car and races into the pretty light blue house with a porch swing outside and smells like freshly baked cookies. He gawks around at the wooden floors, wall papering with flowers on it, and brightly colored furnisher that doesn’t match but still seems to work well together.

As the door slams behind him, Nico turns quickly only to come face to face with the twins and their driver. The boy is the first to speak, “This isn’t a harvest camp.”

“That’s because you’re not getting harvested.” The driver answered gruffly, stomping over to a closet on what Nico guesses is a homemade prosthetic leg. He pulled out a large canvas bag and tosses it onto the floor, “Pick what you’d like to wear, tomorrow we have a flight to Ohio where you’ll meet other ex-tithes. For tonight, get some rest.”

With that, he stomps down a hallway and disappears into a room. When neither twin moves, Nico steps up to the bag and pulls it open. Inside is a jumbled mess of clothing. Desperate to get out of the white, he dumps it out and starts searching. Taking his lead, the twins bend down to look as well. While she gets a pretty pink dress with white flowers on it and he gets some jeans and a band t-shirt, Nico finds nothing to suit his required pure black specifications. As a result, they pack up the clothing with him still clad only in white.


	4. Ch. 3-Frank

Frank Zhang wakes up to a familiar--yet different bedroom. It’s nearly identical to the one that burned, but little things other people wouldn’t notice were out of place: some of the books rest at an angle, pens rather than pencils litter the desk, there’s three pillows rather than two.

The minute changes throw him off, and put him on edge. He doesn’t move. Nothing feels right now. Frank’s alone--the other seven are nowhere in sight. He remembers the donnybrook between Percy and Jason, followed by the appearance of a god. The ultimatum, Jason’s instant agreement while ignoring Percy’s advice to think about it first.

Before Frank can continue over thinking things, the bedroom door bangs open. He jumps, reflexively retreating into the corner of his bed. Instantly--despite not know why--his heart starts pounding. The man standing there is young, buff, and deeply tanned; one that’s hard to get in Canada. Frank doesn’t remember seeing him before, however there’s still something familiar about this man; an aura that should be making Frank angry, but he can’t stop cowering.

“Time to get ready for school, kid.” His gruff voice makes Frank flinch.

“Y-yes, sir.” The response surprises Frank; there was no thought behind it.

As the man retreated back downstairs, Frank relaxes slightly. Still, he doesn’t move for a few minutes. Once he possesses the strength to extract himself from the corner, Frank adventures into the room. He feels sick while doing his best to contain it. There’s a tiny, thin laptop on his desk so, more out of curiosity than anything else, he opens it.

“Good morning, Frank. Is it time to video journal already?” The electronic, female voice comes from the laptop. He remembers having to do a journal for elementary school, but he gets the feeling his journal is different.

“No, I’d like to view the video from-” He glances at the calendar above his desk with characters from a movie he can’t remember seeing, “A year ago. Last Valentine’s day.”

An image of a slightly younger version of himself appears on the screen. It’s dark but he seems to be in a closet. He doesn’t remember to say his name before jumping in, “Clarisse, I-I can’t believe she’d just leave like that. She just didn’t come home from school today. Father’s furious. He keeps yelling, cursing her creation. His rage is going to turn on me soon.’

“Why would she just leave? She must have known what he’ll do to me. So, why wouldn’t she take me with her?”

Frank stops the recording. Despite what Leo seems to think, Frank isn’t ignorant. Things are slowly clicking into place. He doesn’t know a Clarisse, but he can tell that he’s not safe here. Without thought, he grabs the messenger bag from next to the desk, slips the laptop into it and a few changes of clothes from a dresser before going in search of money.

He finds a could twenties that quickly get added to his pack. It’s lumpy now, very unlike a school bag. He goes to the bookcase, and grabs a few hardbacks to try to give his stash a better shape. They’re heavy, but he can drop them later.

Silently, Frank prays to every deity he can think of that he can get out without the man stopping him. Of course, they weren’t listening.

“Fai.” The man calls as Frank opens the door.

He winces, contemplates making a run for it, before turning back to the kitchen, “Yes, sir?”

“Your lunch.” He answered, gesturing toward the brown paper bag sitting innocently on the counter, “You know how upset that cook gets when you don’t eat.”

“Of course.” Frank takes the bag and turns back towards the door.

“What’s the rush?”

His mind races to find an answer; the books, “I want to stop by the library before class.”

Ten seconds, twenty, thirty, “Alright then, get out of here.”

Frank flees the house. He’d expected a forest outside, but finds a long expanse of identical houses on either side. They’re large with long driveways and massive lawns. He glances around before heading to the left, south.

He doesn’t have a plan per say, but he takes off down the street; planning to make a plan later.

“Hey, dude!” A voice calls from behind him, and--like a fool--Frank stops. A black haired boy with bright blue eyes runs up next to him, “Well, you’re in a hurry this morning. Did he do something again?”

Frank blinked at him, “Do something?”

“Don’t pull that bullshit, Zhang, I know he’s smacking you around like he used to do with Clarisse.” When Frank just stares at him, the boy rolled his eyes, “You can’t keep letting him do this to you, Frank. Why don’t you let your good old buddy Dakota call Child Protective Services for you? He’ll never know who it was!”

“Doesn’t matter.” Frank mutters. He doesn’t know what’s going on but he can tell that here he and Dakota are close friends. So, he says softly, “I’m not going back. I’m getting on a bus and getting out of here.”

Dakota looks him over, “A bus to where?”

Frank shrugs and starts walking again, “Doesn’t matter as long as I’m away. I’ll probably end up going south to America.”

With that, Frank knows where he’s going. Even though it’s only Dakota, he doesn’t share. Dakota races after him, “And what if you get picked up as an AWOL?”

Frank doesn’t know what he meant, but simply shrugs, “I’ll deal with that when I get there.”

They stop at a bus stop, and Frank sits down on the bench to wait. Dakota scuffs the pavement for a minute before muttering, “Guess this is it then?”

Suddenly feeling bad, Frank offers him a soft smile, “I’ll come back.”

“Yeah, I know.” The other boy sighs, and teasingly punches Frank’s arm, “You’re a tough kid, Zhang.”

With that, Dakota turns and leaves. Frank can’t think of anything to tell him. As he sits to wait for the bus, he pulls the books out. Rather than just putting them down to leave them there, Frank looks one over. The cover shows a blue maze with a crumbling man reaching out over it, the cracks in his body glowing red. But it’s the title that draws Frank’s attention: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Battle of the Labyrinth.

Slightly unnerved, Frank sets the book down and looks at the others. Four of them also say Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and all five have covers that connect to each other with the spins forming a lightning storm. The other four books have the series title Heroes of Olympus. He flicks through one, but stops at the sight of his own name closely followed by Hazel’s.

The entire thing unnerves him. It scares him. These are marked as fiction books, and yet here he sits, reading a description of himself and Hazel on guard duty the day Percy showed up. A day that he clearly remembers as being distinctly non-fiction. Then, an idea comes to him. If this scene is accurate to how things really happened, maybe the first series can explain more about Percy and his adventures with the Greeks.

For lack of anything better to do, Frank picks up the first book, opening it to the first page.

 

_Look, I didn’t want to be a half blood._

_If you’re reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth and try to live a normal life._

_Being a half-blood is dangerous. It’s scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways._

_If you’re a normal kid, reading this because you think it’s fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened._

_But if you recognize yourself in these pages--if you feel something stirring inside--stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it’s only a matter of time before they sense it too. And they’ll come for you._

_ Don’t say I didn’t warn you. _


	5. Part. 2-Flee

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”  
~A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens


	6. Ch. 4-Leo

“I’ll handle first watch.” Leo offers.

Nico doesn’t argue, pulling a blanket from his pack and curling up under it.

The son of Hephaestus wraps himself in the other blanket, and settles down against a tree. Even after three weeks of only Nico’s company, he can’t get used to the other’s cold, distant nature. He’s finding himself longing for Jason’s form of distant friendship.

Nico’s not all that bad, however. He knows how to sneak them food and supplies. Those white clothes seem to hold some kind of power, even covered in dirt. Leo’s still getting used to the son of Hades wearing anything but black.

They’d found each other by chance behind some sleazy Tennessee bar in one of Leo’s hardest moments. He hates to admit how much he’d been failing on his own. Every homeless shelter threw him out, threatening to call the Juvy cops. He’d run out of money after a week, and ended up hitchhiking while sleeping in gutters. Not a prideful time.

So, when a drunkard offered him thirty bucks to take his clothes off, Leo could only see the gain. The rest seems like a hazy blur of unwanted, forced sexual attention until Nico’s voice rang strongly through the air, making the sleazer’s assault stop as he ran off with his pants around his ankles still.

Leo kept his back against the wall; button down ruffled, halfway undone; pants open but still squarely on his hips.

Nico walked over to him, shakily redoing the other’s clothes, “What are you doing, Valdez?”

“That’s not what he said.” Leo answers, his voice small and dejected.

The other sighed and pulled some bread from his backpack, “Eat up. We’ve got a ways to go until it’s safe to rest.”

They didn’t walk about it after that.

The soft sob breaks Leo from his memories. He turns to look at the curled up ball of his traveling companion. Leo knows he should leave it, but he can’t bite his tongue, “Nico?”

Nico looks up with tears in his eyes—guilty at being caught—but he doesn’t speak. The son of Hephaestus sighs, “Come now. You can tell me. We’re supposed to trust each other.”

After a minute of silence, Nico whispers, “Leo, I’m scared.” Once the dam breaks, Nico can’t seem to stop it, “Death is solid and constant and definitive. But this? This extension of life? It’s not natural!”

Leo sighs and moves to lay down next to Nico, “It’s okay. I’m not going to let them unwind you or any of the others.”

“What if it’s too late? What if they’re already gone? If Percy-“ His voice catches at the name.

“Percy’s fine, the others are fine.” Leo promises, reluctantly moving to hold the other, rubbing his back, “Nobody’s getting unwound. I promise.”

Rather than pulling away like Leo’d expected, Nico cuddles into his chest. He sobs himself to sleep in Leo’s warmth. Even though he knows he should stay awake, Leo’s eyes drift closed.


	7. Ch. 5-Piper

She doesn’t understand why they keep prolonging the torture. Not that they’re hitting her--if anything, they’re treating her like a special guest who’s just not allowed to leave. Piper’s well clothed, well fed, and well groomed, but locked in this one dorm-like room.

The spare bed worries her, however, It stands as a threat that once that bed has an occupant, she’s be ready to go under the knife. For she knows that’s the ending point; being taken apart bit by bit to be used for transplants; to revive those whose lives apparently mean more than her’s.

For the most part, she’s spent her free time meditating and exploring the computer they won’t let her have internet access for. Using the dictionary, she’s learned a lot about this new America.

Towards the end of the third week, that bed gets filled. The guard escorts her back to the room after breakfast, and as he slams the door closed a fluttering of movement from behind that otam catches her eye.

Piper steps forwards carefully, trying her best not to scare the other, “Hellow? It’s okay. I’m not going to harm you.”

“P-pipes?” His voice is small and rough, but there’s only two people who ever call her that. Jason and her dad.

She moves around the look at the boy crouching there. Huis blond hair sticks up in every which way, his clothes look like he’s slept in them, and the desperate look in his eyes makes him seem wild; an appearance made even more believable when he springs at her. It only takes him a second to realize who she is, and in the remaining second before they connect he turns the attack into a tight embrace. His arms wrap around her waist as he buries his head in her neck.

He whispers softly, “You smell different.”

“It’s their soap.” Piper whispers back, “What happened? Why are you here?”

Jason pulls out of the hug, running shaky fingers through his hair, “They shot me, Pipes. They just...sent me away with the cops then...then some other guys shot me and I blacked out and woke up here.”

She rubs his arm gently, “I’ll be okay, Jason, we’ll get out of here.”

“Where is here? What’s going on?” He lowers his voice, “What did Morpheus do to us?”

Piper turns to the computer, grabbing the dictionary sitting next to it before turning back to him, “We’re in the future.”

Jason stares at her, “The future?”

“At least a future.” She says.

“...Did you hit your head?”

Piper shakes her head, “They call it unwinding or retroactive abortion. The cops were taking you to a harvest camp.”

“Why?” He shakes his head, “They said I was fighting and getting into trouble. But why would they give up? Why did they send me away?”

She sighed softly, pulling him into a hug, “I don’t know.”

Jason pulls back, sitting on the bed. She sits next to him, “They shot me too. I was in a Cherokee village with my dad for a while. I went out in the woods on day, and two men ambushed me. I blacked out and woke up here a couple weeks ago. They’ve been waiting for something. I guess it was you.”

“What are they going to do to us?” He asked softly.

“They’re going to unwind us; take up a part piece by piece, and use us for transplants.” Piper answers, leaning her head on his shoulder.

The couple stays silent for a while--his arm around her waist with his head on her’s. There’s no way to deny that they’re scare, but neither knows what to do. Jason wants to fight, bash the guards’ heads into the wall and break their spines, but the door stands in his way and he’s still a little sore from his time unconscious. Piper wants to flee, talk their way out with food, money, and a car, but again the door standing there as an impenetrable fortress with them locked into the wrong side. Plus, she hadn’t been able to get her charmspeaking to work right since the first day.

That is, until the door swings open to reveal two guards with another man wearing a labcoat. Jason stands in front Piper with his hands fisted in front of his chest, glaring at the intruders. With one silent nod from the man, the two guards grab Jason’s arms and lift him off his feet. In response, Piper screams at them to let him go, but the guards carry the struggling Jason out of the room.


	8. Ch. 6-Jason

Jason screamed, fighting the metal straps around his wrists and ankles, “Let me go! Let me go you sick bastards! I’ll rip you apart.”

All around him comes noise: the scraping of metal on metal, the ripping of plastic getting opened, the chattering of people while they ignore his screams. This isn’t fair, this isn’t right. They can’t just do this too him. Jason...Jason has a life to live, a world to save, Piper to be with, Nico to help, Percy to spare with, Leo needs to make fun of him again. It can’t just end like this. They can’t just take all this away from him.

“Please.” He’s begging now. What would Reyna say? Romans don’t beg, they destroy. But laying here, on the metal operating table, Jason isn’t a Roman. He’s a scared teenaged boy who just wants to keep living, “Please don’t do this. I-I have so much left to do with my life. Please! I still have time to make something out of it!”

That’s when a nurse first speaks to him, “That’s what they all say, but it’s better this way, dear. You’ll be saving lives.”

“But what about my life?” Jason responds, “Isn’t that worth saving?”

“You’re not going to die.” She answers sweetly, “You’ll just stop living.”

The blond shakes his head, “That makes no sense.”

“It will.” She answers simply, brushing hair back from his forehead, “Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing.”

“Besides the sensation of slowly deteriorating and losing my entire being to be absorbed into a secular whole with no individual expression.” Jason mutters in response, “I’m not going to die today.”

“That’s right, dear.” She’s trying to sooth him, but Jason knows it’s just an automatic response. She doesn’t care what happens to him, none of them do. They don’t care if he lives or not after this. They don’t care if they make a mistake and he dies on the table beyond them losing pay. Assuming they would, Jason doesn’t even know.

He can feel his heart rate speeding up, blood racing through his veins. The edges of Jason’s vision start going red. This isn’t happening. His life isn’t about to end now. It means something. It means something, maybe not to them but to him, it means something.

Kissing Piper means something. Annoying Nico means something. Talking with Frank means something. Strategizing with Annabeth means something. Fighting with Percy means something. Laughing with Hazel means something. Distracting Leo while he’s working means something.

So, maybe they don’t have normal lives, but to say that they don’t mean anything is a lie. Their lives mean so much to each other. To the world. If they die, Gaea will win. Their lives mean something to everybody, just nobody knows it.

Honestly, Jason doesn’t know where he fits in with the group very well. Annabeth knows everything he knows, Percy can fight the same as he can, that’s all he can offer. But there has to be a reason for him to be there, otherwise Juno wouldn’t have included him. Somehow, Jason can’t believe his purpose on this mission is to die here on an operating table.

A loud booming sound echoes around the room as the whole air gets electrified. Jason’s hair stands up, the doctors and nurses fluttering around the room get thrown back against the walls and stop moving. He looks up through the ceiling’s new hole, the midnight dark sky shines down with stars scattered across it. It takes Jason a few seconds to realize that he’s crying softly. Jason lifts his left arm to wipe the tears away. In surprise, he looks down to see the shackles formerly restraining him broke. The edges of the break are darkened.

Jason sits up, flexing his wrists and ankles, before rushing out of the room.


	9. Ch. 7-Hazel

Hazel got lucky; less than two hours after leaving the house, she runs right into Frank. Literally into him. They haven’t separated since. It doesn’t take them long to get from Vegas to San Francisco, mostly because he still has money.

As they sit on the bus, he’s nervous. Frank keeps glancing around, tapping his fingers, and jiggling his leg. Then there’s the books. She’s never seen Frank ready anything that wasn’t for the Legion. But every night and most days and every spare moment he could find, he’s reading. Reading because there’s nothing else to do. Reading because there’s nothing else to do. Reading to find something else; something he’s not yet ready to share.

“What happened when you woke up?” She asks as the Golden Gate Bridge comes into view.

Frank shrugs, “Woke up at home, and left.”

“And everything was normal?”

“Pretty much.” He nods before nudging her, “It’s our stop.”

They step off the bus, and start walking. She’d bought new clothes, no longer stuck in the whites, and it’s a relief that nobody’s staring at her anymore. The black jeans are itchy and the shirt’s a little bit, but she’s more comfortable than she was in the whites.

As they walk, Frank takes her hand, “We don’t even know if anybody’s going to be there.”

“It’s still worth trying.” She responses.

Neither of them want to worry about what will happen if they find disaster. The cars rushing past above them and on their left side doesn’t bother them as much as it should. They walk together along the edge of the road before pausing at an intersection where they need to cross. Right in their line of sight is a large hill with the interstate on top of it...and nothing else.

“There’s no door.” Hazel mutters in a disappointed tone.

Frank, however, isn’t giving up so easily. As soon as there’s a break in the traffic, he leads her across the road, and marches right up to where there should be a door, “Maybe it’s just hiding, and we have to prove that we’re worthy to get in again.”

The duo stops, and she reaches out to touch the side of the hill. After a minute, she mutters, “There’s nothing here, Frank. Let’s just go...find another course of action.”

The words are hard for her to get out. New Rome has been her home since Nico brought her back to life. The only thing more home than New Rome for her is her brother, especially when he and Frank are talking and getting along like normal boys. First she can’t find Nico, and then New Rome won’t let them in. It’s almost too much for her, it would have been if she didn’t have Frank standing next to her.

“I guess.” He mutters reluctantly, “Let’s sit here though, I don’t know where else to go and...it doesn’t feel right to leave yet.”

Hazel doesn’t like the idea of staying in one place, but she nods and sits down on the ground with her back against the hill. He sits down next to her, and after a minute, asks, “So, what now? I mean, we’re almost out of money, we have no clue where any of the others are, and we don’t have any idea where to head next.”

She wants to argue that he has a very negative outlook on their situation, but he’s right. New Rome was their only lead, their only idea, and it’s failed them, “I don’t know. I guess, we just keep moving the best we can, and hope we end up somewhere.”

Frank groans, laying down in the grass, “That sounds like a last hope.”

“That’s because it is.” Hazel answers, laying down next to him and leaning her head on his shoulder.

He doesn’t get the chance to respond before voices shout at them, “Put your hands up. Running will only get you hurt. Come quietly.”

Hazel can hardly bite back the ‘like that’s going to happen’ remark. By now, they’ve figured out what’s going on in this world, and the kind of danger their both in. At least, she assumes they're both in. Frank hasn’t said.

The duo stands slowly, hands up like they’re cooperating but with one glance at each other, they both know there’s no way they are. She looks around at the cops curiously, before noticing the one flaw in their security. To the left, right where the road cuts through the hill, causing a tunnel, the Juvies are nowhere to be seen. Frank sees it too, and they both know it’s their only hope.

“You two are under arrest for evading the law. You’ll be taken to a harvest camp where your unwinding will commence.”

Neither can tell who says the words, but half way through it doesn’t matter anymore. With the cops distracted by whoever’s talking, the couple runs straight through that gap and into the tunnel. They don’t run in there, figuring they got lucky and nobody saw where they disappeared too so the echoing of their feet running would only draw attention to them. However, they walk through the tunnel, pressed up against the side.

It seems like a common place for homeless people to hang out with teenage delinquents. Cigarette butts litter the ground along with alcohol bottles, articles of clothing, and scraps of rolled up paper that Frank can only guess what these kids have been smoking in them. At the moment, however, there’s only one other person in the tunnel--along with the cars rushing past. A young man, maybe a college dropout, leans against one of the concrete columns holding the ceiling up and smoking, like he doesn’t have a care in the world.

He looks them over as they approach but lets them pass without an issue. It’s not until they step out of the tunnel, do they hear the voice calling to them, “Hey, wait up.”

The man runs up next to them, “Those cops were looking for you two, hu? It’s not usually that easy to get away from them. You probably won’t be able to do so again, not that easy. I could help.”

“You could help?” Frank asks, and Hazel can tell that he’s trying not to laugh. But she’s listening.

“Yeah,” The man nods, “Judging by the looks of you, you’re AWOLs. Doing pretty good too, might I add. But even the best get caught. Just look at Connor Lassiter. He’s the best of the best, and now he’s gone and gotten blown up. Shame. But the ADR helped him, and we can help you too. You just need to give me a chance.”

Hazel looks up at Frank. He clearly doesn’t trust this guy, and neither does she. But she asks after a minute, “So...what do you mean by that?”


	10. Ch. 8-Nico

Nico can feel the ropes on his wrists and ankles before he can force his eyes open. He’s not in the woods anymore, cuddling up with Leo. Not that he enjoyed it...he thinks. He’s not really sure how to feel about the whole situation. Nico didn’t push Leo away.

In any case, they aren’t still cuddling. It’s dark but Nico can see through the shadows. A large throne sits at the front of the room, and Leo’s still passed out next to him, equally tied up. His curly hair falls into his face, making it hard for Nico to see his eyes, but the son of Hades can tell his companion is still out of it.

Leo really does have an attractive face, Nico finds he’s realizing. When he looks into the other boy’s eyes, he can’t breathe because he’s drowning in chocolate. Leo’s crooked smile makes it hard for Nico not to smile back. And he’s so warm all the time. Nico hardly ever feels warm since Bianca died. But Leo’s warmth invades him in one battle Nico knows he could never win. Nico’s not sure he wants to win. He’s not sure what he wants anymore.

Suddenly, there’s a stinging sensation in his shoulder, and the world goes fuzzy. His head drops as the darkness takes him over once again.

The second time Nico wakes up, Leo’s already awake and speaking in a loud, irritated voice, “Thanks for the help and all, but we were doing just fine on our own before you all came in and shot us.”

“We only wanted to get you out of there without resistance.” Another voice answers, obviously male but closer to Nico’s age judging from the fact his voice hasn’t dropped.

“Kidnapping!” Leo practically yells at the other boy.

“Helping.” The boy rationalized in a calm tone.

Nico tries to speak, to accuse this boy of hurting him. He wants to open his eyes to make sure that Leo’s still okay. But he can’t. His neck muscles feel like they’ve been burnt and are now aching from the torture; his mouth won’t work so the words only come out as a groan.

He can practically hear Leo’s neck snap as he most likely turns to look at him, “Nico! Are you okay?”

“They had to tranq him again.” The other boy answers, “He’ll be fine. He just needs time to have them wear off and get his control back.”

There’s fury in Leo’s words as he spat back, “Why did they shoot him twice?”

“Ran.” Nico manages to mutter, it coming out slurred and garbled but he knows Leo understood and so did the other boy.

“You didn’t run away.”

This time, a new voice that he barely recognizes answers him, “Nico di Angelo was here before. He disappeared one night, leaving nothing behind.”

Finally, Nico’s able to raise his head in order to glare at the man. He’s tall, old, and balding; dressed rich. Cavenaugh offers Nico a grim smile that sends a shiver down the boy’s spine. He knows this man thinks he’s helping, but Nico would be much safer out there in the world with Leo than here where he doesn’t fit in and nobody wants him. Out there, he maintains faith that there are people, even if it’s only six at max, who do want him and are worried about him. More likely, they’re worried about Leo. But as long as Nico sticks with him, he’ll be picked up by them too.

“Wait-” Leo says, clearly confused and angry, “You take a kid, bring him here, he leaves, and you think it’s a good idea to bring him back? You don’t look that stupid.”

After looking at the other demigod, Nico follows his gaze to the boy sitting atop the throne in the front of the room. He’s dirty blond that goes down to the front of his chest with icy blue eyes. He looks like he’s twelve--his face still full of baby fat, he’s shorter than they are, and, while he’s in the power seat, he doesn’t look certain up there like he’s not the one doing this--but Nico gets the feeling he’s older. Then, something clicks.

Nico manages to say, “You’re him. The one they all worship.”

“It’s not worship.” Cavenaugh puts in. He’s the one in charge, Nico knows. This boy is new, he wasn’t here when Nico was before. Cavenaugh is in charge of the whole situation. He’s in search of tithes to ‘save’, but Leo isn’t a tithe.

“You should hear the things they say.” As he speaks, his words get stronger, “They treat him like a saint. No, more like a god. Like he’s holy and special and otherworldly. Now, you seem like a very nice boy, but you’re just that; a boy. You’re no more than the rest of us.”

And Nico means like him and Leo. This kid is something more than human, judging by what he’d heard on his last visit here. But there’s something else in the boy that Nico knows is in him and suspects is in Leo as well. A slight self-loathing. If this boy didn’t have it in him, he wouldn’t have turned himself into a clapper. That’s still a new term to his mind, but Nico understands what it is; suicide; blowing oneself up and taking everybody around them down too.

The boy smiles, and ignored Cavenaugh while he gets up and heads over to their hostages. He leans down to start untying Leo, and whispers, “You’re right.”

Leo looks up at the boy in shock, but eagerly flexes his wrists as the ropes come off, “Who are you then?”

“I’m Lev.” The boy answers, moving to take Nico’s ropes off as well.

“Leo.” The latino responses, untying his own ankles.

Lev looks up at Nico, and he can see something in the dirty blond’s eyes; respect, acceptance, and...a thank you. He’s been waiting for somebody to say what Nico just did, “You’ll be safe with the tithes.”

Before Nico can stop him, Leo says, “I’m not a tithe.”

That surprises Lev and Cavenaugh almost to the point of making Nico laugh. If he wasn’t so scared, that wouldn’t have been an almost. He’s expecting the words that come from Cavenaugh next, “In that case, we apologize, but there’s been a mistake. We’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“You finally get it.” Leo says exasperated, “That’s fine. I’ll just take Nico and go then.”

“No.” Cavenaugh responds calmly, “He’ll be staying here, but we need you to leave.”

Nico’s not looking at the agonized and terrified look on Leo’s face, he’s focused on Lev’s eyes; silently begging him for help. He whispers softly, “Please, don’t let them split us up.”

Lev shakes his head, answering under his breath, “I can’t.”

“Please.” Nico repeats, “Prove to me that you’ve earned their idolizing.”

He’s fighting back tears, and Lev knows it. After another moment of looking at each other, with Leo’s screams and arguing in the background, Lev stands, “Let him stay. They’re obviously dependant on each other. To split them up would be seriously detrimental to both of their psychies.”

Both Leo and Cavenaugh are surprised by his words.

“Obviously dependant.”

“Levi, it’s not proper.”

But Lev isn’t backing down, “You’re trying to help the tithes, isn’t that the point? Well, sending Leo away wouldn’t be helping Nico.”

Neither is ready to back down. Cavenaugh looks down at Nico, still mostly tied to his chair with tears in his eyes. Finally the old man sighs, “Fine, he can stay.”

Leo doesn’t exactly look happy, he’d rather be leaving with Nico, but staying is better than getting separated. He moves over to finish untying Nico and helps him up. The world disappears around Nico for a minute, but Leo catches him. Nico wraps his arms around Leo for support. Now completely ignoring Cavenaugh, Lev turns to them, “Come on then. I’ll show you to your room.”

Around them, Nico knows the massive mansion so he doesn’t pay much attention until they reach the dining room. The mural that stretches from wall to ceiling of a blond hair, blue eyed boy in tithing whites isn’t as holy as he remembers. Somebody’s spray painted over it in red. Looking curiously at their guide’s hands, Nico can see bits of red on them.


	11. Ch. 9-Leo

As weird as the white had been, neon green on Nico’s even weirder. Luckily, Leo’d managed to grab onto a dull orange shirt. It feels good to be in fresh clothes, but that’s pretty much the only good thing about this place.

First they were tied up, then the weird old guy wanted to kick Leo out for not being a tithe--whatever that means. In response, Nico begged Lev not to split them up, and the throned blond boy insisted that Leo stays. The most surprising thing, however, as soon as they untied him, Nico hugged Leo.

Sure, the night before the two fell asleep cuddled together but Leo figured they’d move on and never speak of the instance. But Nico down right fell apart at the idea of being separated, then hugged him. Leo didn’t know what to do about it or how to feel. He still doesn’t.

It took Leo a total of twenty minutes to figure out that he doesn’t want to be here...two weeks ago. After fourteen days, he still doesn’t want to be here.

Here in this run down mansion. Here with all the crazy kids obsessed with Lev--they even have a mural with a shrine to him! Here where he doesn’t belong. Everybody just sits around, talking about how great it is to be saved, in their head-ache inducing colors.

I wasn’t saved. I was doing just fine with Nico.

Nico. Most of the time they sit together in content silence, always together expect when Nico needs to go to “group”. Then, Leo just sits in the dorm-like room they’d been given, and worries about the others; what’s happening to them, where they are, if they’re okay, if they’re even still in one piece. Leo doesn’t like those times.

After two weeks here, they’re all grouped together in the cellar for a thunderstorm. The two demigods stick together the best they could, leaning against a wall next to a closet. Nico’s down right trembling, but when Leo asks what’s wrong, he just shakes his head. They remain there silently for a while before the first clap. Nico jumps.

“It’s okay.” Leo whispers.

Again, Nico offers no answer. After another several minutes, another clap comes. This time, Nico reaches for the doorknob to the closet door, and--unnoticed by anybody but Leo--slips inside. Leo follows him inside to see Nico sitting the back corner with his knees up to his chest and his hands over his ears.

Almost hesitantly, Leo walks over to him and crouches before Nico. He gently pulls Nico’s hands down, “Hey, now. What’s wrong?”

“I-I...don’t like thunder.” Nico whispered softly so the other boy could just barely hear.

Leo scoots closer to Nico and wraps his arms around the boy. He lifts Nico up and pulls  him into his lap. Leo curls up with him cuddled to his chest in the corner, “It’s okay. They’re just loud noises. There’s no way for you to get hurt by them because I’m here to cover you.”

“Just noises?” The Ghost King asks breathily.

“Yep. Noises can’t hurt you.”

“Headaches.” Nico points out, sniffing. And Leo realizes that he’s crying softly.

Leo chuckles softly, “Yeah, headaches. But that’s not so bad. There are things that hurt you more. Like spiders, or scorpions. Then there’s things like cars that cause accidents and bombs that detonate. Compared to those, some noises aren’t so bad.”

When Nico doesn’t answer, Leo digs his fingers into the boy’s side, tickling just under his ribs. Nico giggles slightly, “Leo, don’t!”

“And why not?” Leo asks, liking the response Nico’s giving him as he continues to tickle him.

Nico giggles more, curling up to the bigger boy’s chest with a hand resting on his shoulder, “I don’t like...being tickled.”

Reluctantly, Leo stops. Nico cuddles into his chest more, resting his head on the other’s shoulder. After a minute of silence, Leo mutters, “It helped though. You’re less freaked out now.”

Nico pulls back to look up at the other boy. Slowly, he nodded, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

The peace only lasted for half a minute before another clap can be heard from outside. Nico tenses up again, clutching at Leo desperately as his eyes grow wide.

“It’s okay, I’m right here.”

Before more can be said, a series of claps come in quick succession. One right after another, filling the room with the thunderous booms. Leo can tell the instance when Nico’s fear peaks because the world around them darkens. Shadows close up around the two and consume them, squeezing them together until it’s hard for Leo to breathe.

When he opens his eyes again, they’re outside and there’s no storm raging around them. Nico’s still cradled in his lap but the object at his back is a stone while definitely not being a wall. He can feel the high arched, curve of the top against his shoulder blades. Leo looks around to see that they’re in a graveyard somewhere, “What happened? Where are we?”

Nico looks around too, wiping tears from his cheeks, “A graveyard.”

“I figured that much.” Leo mutters, “How did we get here? Did you shadow travel?”

The smaller boy nodded, “I guess I just got so scared, it happened without me meaning it to. Sorry, I didn’t mean-”

Leo tightened his hug on Nico, “Thank the gods, that place was horrible!”

The son of Hades squirmed his way out of Leo’s grasp and stood, straightening his clothes, “I think we’re in New Orleans.”

“Why?” Leo stands up, brushing dirt from the back of his jeans.

In answer, Nico simply points out to the street. A jazz band marches past the trumpets blazing, “Besides, I know this graveyard. I used to spend a lot of time here back during the Titan War.”

Leo looks around again. The tombstone are cracked, some toppled over, moss grows between the stones of the walkways and around everything. It doesn’t look like anybody’s taken care of it in forty years at least, “Why?”

Nico shrugs, “I had nowhere else to be.”

Before Leo can answer, a growling sound comes from the back to the graveyard. Nico turns to stare at the spot while Leo’s instantly ready to flee. Neither of them have a weapon to use against a monster. Leo grabs the other boy’s arm, pulling it gently, “Nico, we can’t pick a fight with no way to kill it.”

After another few seconds, Nico turns away from the noise, and the two run off into the streets. They flee senselessly, running through main streets, dark alleys, and back yards. By the time they stop, both are panting softly, and they lean against a wall. Leo mutters softly, “No way we were followed with that.”

“Why? Who was chasing you, dears?” Comes a soft, grandmothering voice.

Both boys turn, prepared for a fight, but relax when they realize that it’s just an old woman, tottering her way down the back alleyway with a walker and several bags of groceries. Nico recovers first, “Nobody, it’s nothing. Thank you for your concern.”

She stops, and looks them over, “You’re AWOLs, hu? Probably running from juvy cops. Not even from here by the looks of you. Means, you’re good at hiding away and not being seen. I’m afraid you’ve been seen, boys. But not by an enemy.”

Both look at each other, but their focus gets pulled back to her when she dumps her shopping in their arms, “Be dolls and carry those for me, will you? My house is just up here, and you can hiding in there until somebody from the Anti-Division Resistance shows up to bring you to a safe house.”


	12. Ch. 10-Frank

Frank hates Ohio. He only knows it’s Ohio because of the other kids got picked up in Akron and she hasn’t been moved yet.

Since they’re a couple, he hasn’t been separated from Hazel. So they sit in an Ohio basement with two other kids and a grumpy old lady above them with a cane she likes to hit Frank with. She says they’re waiting for the Ice Cream Man.

He’s tired of safe houses, of not knowing where they are or where they’re going, of questioning their safety. It’s been almost a month in the houses, he guesses, but there’s no way to tell. They don’t see the sunlight. Being inside feels safer than being outside, but Frank’s learning that safety is an allusion.

They hear a scraping from up above and everybody goes silent. Usually, that sound only comes when somebody is coming in, but this time people are going out.

The girl gets called out first. She stands shakily and carefully climbs their rickety staircase. It feels like hours before she comes back, and the three of them sit around the basement, eating spam with their fingers. Frank still doesn’t like the taste but it’s better than being hungry.

Next, the boy gets called out, and they wait for a long time again before he returns. Frank feels incredibly awkward when Hazel leaves. It’s the longest they’ve been apart since finding each other again. After what has to be an hour, Hazel comes back down. She kisses Frank’s cheek but before he can ask about what happened, the old lady calls, “Zhang!”

Reluctantly, Frank stands and ascends into the night. Sitting on a table is a large pad of paper, several pens and pencils, an envelop, and a stamp.

“Sit.” She orders, and slowly Frank does, “You’ll be leaving here tomorrow. I’m hoping you’re at least semiliterate.”

Frank nods, “I am.”

“I want you to write a letter to somebody you love. Make it as long as you want, or as short as you want; I don’t care. But fill it with everything you wished you could say but never had the chance.”

“I don’t have anybody to write to.”

“Then write what you need to get out--don’t hold back. When you’re done put it in the envelope and seal it. I won’t read it so don’t worry about that. Take as much time as you need, and when you’re done, ring the bell.”

And she leaves Frank sitting there alone in the lightly lit room with nothing to do but write. He just sits there for a while, contemplating just putting a bunch of blank paper in the envelope and calling it quits. But there’s one thing that he has to get out. One person he needed to vent about: Clarisse.

By reading the books, Frank knows who she is now. She’s a daughter of Ares who bullied Percy and every other newbie at camp until she grew up and matured.  Morpheus put them together for some reason, and now Frank wants to know why. But beyond that, he wants to understand how she could leave him alone with their father who hurt him for a year before he could escape. They grew up together here, and she just abandoned him.

Frank slowly grabs one of the pens, a sheet of paper, and starts writing.


	13. Part. 3-Graveyard

[Southwest Arizona] serves as an ideal graveyard for airplanes. It has a dry, clear and virtually smog-free climate that helps minimize corrosion. It has an alkaline soil so firm that airplanes can be towed and parked on the surface without sinking...

An airplane graveyard is not just a fence around airplane carcasses and piles of scrap metal. Rather, many millions of dollars’ worth of surplus parts are salvaged o keep active aircrafts flying...

-Joe Zentner, “Airplane Graveyard,” desertusa.com

 

 


	14. Ch. 11-Annabeth

The names flicker past, one after another; get the name, research the person; are they worth it? The last question bothers her. How can she sit in a dead airplane, miles away from these kids, having never met them, and determine whether they should live or die, get unwound or get rescued?

Still, she makes the choice. They gave her very specific criteria to follow so during the day she separates the papers into piles. At night, however, those names haunt her. The school pictures of smiling kids come into her dreams, accusing her of their demise. They remind her of Percy or at least how he used to be; bright and friendly, but with a dark side of him they were just starting to explore even though it scared her. They were starting to explore. He’s different here, all bossy and in charge like he knows what he’s doing which he does.

They don’t talk anymore. Well, they do, but never alone. Thalia’s always there. Annabeth loves her but she just won’t leave them alone, and she’s always with Percy whenever he’s not working. She’s different here too; more angry, resentful, but she hides it better. Thalia acts happy, embracing people, but Annabeth can see the darkness--bitterness, resentment--within her.

The smirker takes a hold of Annabeth’s shoulder, massaging it gently, “Get out of here, blondie, go get some food and some rest. You look like you’re unraveling.”

He’s always the joker. His nickname for her still made her smile as he’s equally blond as she is. But Hayden is a good kid. He’s slightly shorter than her, but they’re the same age. If Annabeth was being honest with herself, he reminds her of Jason and Leo. Hayden has that whitty, joking personality like Leo while looking like Jason. Also, occasionally, he’d get really serious, and start asking these metaphysical questions about the world--about unwinding--and everybody knew he did.

Annabeth looks back at the computer screen with a dark hair dolly-girl on it, and sighs, “Yeah, okay. You should get some sleep too. We can’t have our Commander falling apart at his seams.”

Hayden’s smirk widens, revealing the hint of his braces on his perfect teeth, “Good one, blondie, I’m wearing off on you.”

She stands up, ruffling up his perfect hair before walking out of the plane to a different kind of plain. The desert stretches out before her with lanes of airplanes going into the sunset. This is all she knows of the new world, all she’s seen, a graveyard for unneeded aircrafts and unneeded kids. They’re running around in the shade of the half dismantled airplanes.

Annabeth can see the cloud of dust off in the distance, the tell-tail sign that newbies are arriving in the Graveyard. Which meant that Percy and Thalia wouldn’t be at dinner long. They’d get called off by Trace--their superior in charge of Defense--to come pick out the new First Liners. While Trace technically oversees them, he lets the duo pretty much do what they want with the First Line; they got first pick of the new recruits, the two of them and those under their authority could wear what they want (instead of the camo everybody else wore), and they were mostly left to mind their own business as long as they made regular reports to Trace and Connor.

Connor. He really is something. The kid’s barely seventeen, and in charge of the Graveyard. If the rumors Annabeth hears are true, he tranqued a Juvie cop with his own gun before going on the run. He then turned up in a Harvest Camp, and is the only person to have seen the inside of the Human Chop Shop who came out in one piece. Personally, she doesn’t really like him, but she can appreciate what he’s done in the past. They just rub each other the wrong way.

“Hey, Wise Girl.” Comes the call before an arm throws itself around her shoulders, and Percy flashes her a bright smile, “How was tapping at your keyboard today?”

“Oh, same old same old.” She answered, wrapping an arm around his waist, “More acting like they’re just names.”

“They are just names.” Thalia tells her, “At least until they get here.”

Percy and Thalia wear matching maroon t-shirts. She also wears black jeans with rips in them to show off the tanned skin of his thighs, while he’s dressed in cargo pants. They must have just gotten off duty as Thalia has her leather jacket tossed over her shoulder, and Percy’s wearing his sneakers instead of combat boots he’d taken to wearing in the desert; to avoid getting sand in his socks.

“Not to me.” Annabeth mutters as they walk together towards dinner, “They’re kids who are going to die if we don’t save them, and I have to pick who’s worth saving.”

“They aren’t all going to die.” He answers softly, “Some of them will escape and find their way here on their own, or escape and manage to last out there until they’re seventeen. Stranger things have happened.”

 _Stranger things have happened_. It’s lines like that that make her think that this is still her Percy. He’s not some manifest creation of Morpheus’, here to flirt and torment her with the simple fact that he’s not her boyfriend. They aren’t dating here. Actually, she keeps hearing people speculate that Percy and Thalia are secretly getting it on, but Annabeth knows them better than that. Even here, they’re best friends and treat each other like brother and sister, but nothing else is happening there. No, instead, she’s left thinking about how, if this is her Percy, he probably thinks that she isn’t well...her, like she’s still not sure if he’s him.

The three of them are silent as they make their way through the food line. Percy can’t keep still, continually fidgeting and glancing at the door. Annabeth figures that he’s excited to get his eyes on the newbies. He always gets this anxious when a plane arrives.

“Calm down, Percy, you’re shaking the whole plane.” Thalia mutters after a few minutes.

“Am not.” He protests, but stops moving around so much, “Do you think any of them will be good?”

“I’m sure they’ll be good at something.” She responses, grabbing a plate of food before he can, “But we won’t know until they get trained.”

Annabeth watches the little sparkle in his eyes. She knows that look goes beyond excitement. He’s waiting for something, or somebody, and he keeps expecting every plane to carry them, but he’s still left waiting. She’s about to ask what he’s waiting for, but before she can he grabs his plate, flashes the girl in charge of food services a winning smile, and heads after Thalia.

After rushing to catch up, Annabeth can hear Percy saying, “I still don’t get what her parents were thinking, naming her Bambi. I mean, she’s got to have been a huge baby, what were they thinking?”

“Probably hoping she wouldn’t get any bigger.” Thalia answered, looking curiously towards the fresh arrival.

Before they can find somewhere to sit and eat, Trace comes running up to them. He’s by far the oldest person in the Graveyard. At twenty-three he’s tall, and all the military training made him intimidatingly buff, but in an attractive way. Apparently, he’d been raised for the Airforce, but quit after his brother was unwound.

“You two ready?” He asks, ignoring Annabeth per usual, “Connor’s almost done with their briefing and he doesn’t want them sitting around in limbo tonight.”

“Sure.” Thalia answers, offering her food to one of the kids standing in line.

Percy glares at him for a second before answering, “I’m eating.”

“You can get more food later.”

“Come on, Prissy, you can’t leave me to do all the work.”

After another minute, he rolls his eyes and gives his food to the first kid’s friend, “Fine. I’ll catch up with you later, Wise Girl.”

With that, the three leave to go do work. Important work, she reminds herself, going to find somebody else to sit with. After all, somebody has to keep the several hundred kids here safe from the Juvie cops. The Combom watches out for alerts while the Defense unit patrols, and the First Line runs the business side of the Graveyard; selling parts, buying planes, and working the store front. Percy and Thalia are in charge of the Graveyard’s face to the public, they need the best and they can only get that by hand picking each person on their team.

Still, Annabeth feels like she’s being left out a lot.


	15. Ch. 12-Frank

Frank feels like he can’t breathe. The lonely darkness presses in around him with dust swirling around in the tiny strip of light filtering in through a crack in the boards. He’s scrunched up in a square box barely big enough for him; making his legs ache from keeping that position for hours with his arms wrapped around them.

If it wasn’t so hot, he would have fallen asleep even with the occasional justling. But the temperature has to be well over a hundred degrees and he’s worried about Hazel. She’s off in her own box somewhere; hot, tired, and aching.

Not to mention, they’re on an airplane flying who knows where. She’s not supposed to fly and Frank has spent several hours praying they won’t get struck by lightning. After everything, and being so close to safety only to get struck down by the Great Sky God himself would be just their luck.

In the end, Frank does doze off but the creek and jostle of landing jolts him awake. After landing, it takes a while of anybody to come get him. The air is stale and he’s starting to get light headed by the time a speckly boy pries his crate open, “Hi, my name’s Hayden, and I’ll be your rescuer today. Welcome to purgatory. Also known as Arizona.”

The kid, Hayden, helps Frank out of the crate and leads him through the airplane, between the crates now empty of other kids. Apparently, he was the last to be unpacked.

As they set outside, Frank has to blink and cover his eyes before they adjust to the blinding light. Over the heads of the couple dozen kids who were also transported in the airplane to see rows and rows of airplanes in a mixture of states of dismantling.

There are kids in camo shepherding the arrivals into some type of group as a cloud of dust approaches. Frank looks around desperately in search of Hazel. There’s only a couple dozen kids so he catches sight of quickly. She sees him as well and offers him a smile.

A voice distracts him from betting to her however, “Let me be the first to welcome you all to the Graveyard. Officially, my name is E. Robert Mullard, but everyone calls me Connor.”

A boy stands in front of them. Scares decorate his face which makes him look older but he can’t be more than seventeen. He’s tanned from his time in the desert, and wearing blue camo.

“You’re all here because you were marked for unwinding but managed to escape and, thanks to the efforts of many people, you’ve found your way here.” He continues, “This will be your home until you turn seventeen and become a legal adult. That’s the good new. The bad news is that they know about us. They know where we are and what we’re doing. They let us stay here because they don’t see us as a threat.”

Movement catches Frank’s gaze. a kid comes up to stand next to Connor, looking them over. Frank’s heart nearly stops. Percy stands there in all his demigod glory; tall, tanned, hair slightly longer than it had been, and with that nonchalant smirk. Another girl stands next him with spiky black hair and bright blue eyes; Jason’s eyes. Neither are wearing camo. Percy hasn’t seen him yet. At least, Frank doesn’t think he has.

“Well, we’re going to change that.” Connor says, barely glancing at Percy and the girl. He’s looking around at the new comers like he’s trying to remember every one of their faces, “Some of you have been through enough and just want to make it until seventeen. I don’t blame you. But I know that some of you are ready to risk everything to end unwinding once and for all. We’re not going to feed into their image of us as violent kids who are better off unwound. We will think before we act--and that’s going to make it difficult for them. We’ll infiltrate harvest camps and unite Unwinds across the country. We’ll free kids from buses, before they even arrive. We will have a voice, and we will use it. We will make ourselves heard.”

Along with the other teens around the new arrivals, Percy starts looking them over. Frank can’t tell why, but he occasionally whispers to the girl next to him. Before long, the son of Poseidon catches sight of Frank; a light flickers through his eyes before leaning over to whisper to the girl again. She looks over at Frank as well before nodding and whispering back.

“I don’t know what happens to our consciousness when we’re unwound. I don’t even know when that consciousness but we do know this: we have a right to our live!”

Connor’s words cause an uproar that startles Frank. He hadn’t really been paying attention since he didn’t really understand the words anyway.

“We have a right to choose what happens to our bodies! We deserve a world where both those things are possible--it’s our job to make that world!”

After Connor leaves, Frank expected Percy to come grab him and Hazel, but he doesn’t. The couple finds each other, holding hands while they wait for the other teens to use the bathrooms. Percy and the girl are talking together with the boy who drove Connor to their plane.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Hazel whispers after a while.

Frank just shrugs in response. He doesn’t like being this close to a friend and effectively getting ignored. Hazel wraps her arms around his chest awkwardly; he’d managed to hold onto his backpack. After a while, they’re moved on to two planes to sleep in that night, told they’d be assigned work teams tomorrow. The only part of this that bothers Frank is that they split up between boys and girls.

  
  


The next morning, contrary to his expectations, Frank is one of the first they call for job assignment. Percy stands next to the table that Connor sits at with Hayden, a girl in a wheelchair, a large very intimidating girl, the boy Percy’d been speaking with the day before, and another boy who Frank doesn’t bother paying any attention to.

It’s Connor who speaks first, offering him a warm smile. Part of Frank really wants to like this guy, but a large part of him has learned not to trust anybody in this world. In any case, Percy seems to trust him, “Hi, Frank. How are you today?”

“Could be a lot worse.” Franks shrugs.

That makes them all smile before Connor continues, “We want to find the right place for you to fit in here. What kinds of things are you interested in?”

Frank glances at Percy, trying to figure out what he wants him to say. But Percy doesn’t give him anything, so Frank goes with the honest answer, “I like archery and shooting.”

“So, fighting?” The girl in the wheelchair asks.

“No, I don’t like fighting. I like practicing, and knowing that if I have to I can defend myself and those around me.”

His response apparently surprises them, but the boy Percy’d been talking with the day before speaks up, “Well, I think you’re exactly the kind of person we’d like on the defense squad.”

Frank does his best to contain his excitement, but the look in Percy’s eyes tells him he did the right thing, “Sure, I’ll do whatever you need.”

“Percy and Thalia want to take you for the First Line. Meaning, you’d be working the storefront. You’d be the face for any customers who come in. And if we get under attack, you’d be...well, exactly what it’s called; the First Line of Defense.”

He doesn’t have to consider the offer for very long. Sure, it sounds kind of scary and dangerous, but if that’s where Percy thinks he should be then he’ll go, “Sure, sounds good.”

Nobody argues, so Percy leads Frank from the airplane. Frank glances at Hazel, patiently waiting in line. He offers her a smile as Hayden’s voice calls out, starting with the A’s.

  
  


Percy talks a lot while leading him through the Graveyard, but he doesn’t answer any of Frank’s questions. He talks about the system for dismantling the airplanes, the food services, where Frank will sleep, how often he’ll take shifts in the store. But Percy says nothing about Morpheus, if he knows where any of the others are, or what they’re going to do to get out of this nightmare. Frank’s sure this is Percy, and Percy from their world, but he’s not acting like it.

Finally, Frank asks, “What’s going to happen to Hazel?”

“She’ll get assigned another job.” Percy answers, clearly telling him that this is his Percy.

“You didn’t try to recruit her for the First Line?”

“Of course I tried.” Percy snaps slightly but he instantly looks apologetic, “Thalia and I are a team. We both have to agree about the recruits. She said Hazel would be too memorable if Juvie cops come in. But Hazel will be okay. She’ll get a job, they try to give people something they’re interested in, and we’ll be able to communicate with her.”

As they pass a jet with a ramp on it, Percy says, “That’s the medic jet. Risa, the girl in the wheelchair before, is in charge of the medics. You’ll probably end up in there once or twice, pretty much everybody does.”

“Are any of the others here?”

“Just Annabeth.” Percy answers softly, “Once everybody ends up here, we’ll figure out the next step. For the time being, do your best to keep your head down and blend in.”

Frank stops walking, “What if they don’t end up here?”

Percy stops as well, and he’s trying to hid the scared look in his eyes at the idea, “They will. Everybody does in the end.”

 

When Percy leads him into their sleeping jet, Frank’s surprised by the number of kids inside. There’s six including the two of them. The girl who’d been with Percy the day before--Thalia, the name sounds familiar but Frank can’t place it--sits next to a big buff girl who seems to be worrying about something while two boys who look like brothers play a card game in the corner.

Thalia looks up at them as they enter and offer the duo a smile, “Hey, you must be Frank. I’m Thalia.”

At his name, the other girl looks up, and suddenly she’s smiling. She’s got brown eyes with just a hint of red in them that look familiar. They’re Ares’ eyes from all those weeks ago. She stands up and hugs him instantly. Percy’s looking at him like he expects Frank to do something, so Frank hugs back. He’s quickly trying to figure out who this girl could be, but Percy gives it to him, “I see you’re being abnormally warm towards our newest member, Clarisse.”

Clarisse. The girl he’d talked about in his videos; the one who ran away and left him there. Still, it feels oddly good to be hugged by this stranger, like he’s done it a hundred times. Probably cried into her shoulder as well.

 

Hazel ends up as a medic which is good for Frank since on his first shift, he runs into a cabinet and gets a nasty gash in his forehead.

“You should be more careful.” Hazel tells him sternly.

“It’s not like I was trying to get injured just to come see you or anything.” Frank mutters even though that was part of the injury, “Have you talked to Percy or Annabeth?”

She shakes her head, carefully cleaning out his wound.

“He’s waiting for the others to get here.” He whispers so the other medics can’t hear him, “Then he said we’ll figure out what to do.”

Hazel nods silently, finishing her work and bandaging him quickly, “That should be good. You need to come back in a few days for us to check that isn’t not infected.”

“As long as you get to do my check up, I’ll be here.” Frank answers with a smile.

She laughs softly as Risa comes rolling up to them in her wheelchair, “Nice work, Hazel.”


	16. Ch.13-Nico

Nico glares down at the mush of rice and chicken; at least he thinks it’s chicken. In either case, it’s gross, but there’s nothing else to eat and if he doesn’t eat it then Leo forces it down his throat anyway. The kids all around him are mostly silent while they eat, only occasionally whispering while Nico pokes with his finger at the mush. The dried blood on his knuckles keeps grabbing his attention.

He’d punched a kid, probably broke the guy’s nose but Nico can’t bring himself to care. The idiot was whispering rumors about Nico, and they pissed him off. He’d told everybody that he walked in on Nico and Leo having sex. Nico’s trying to convince himself that he started the fight because it was Leo he was with in the rumor, but it’s because of the sex. He wouldn’t have gotten as pissed off as he would have been if it had just been them making out.

“You should really wash the blood off.” Leo comments as he sits down next to Nico in their corner.

“There’s always a line for the bathroom.”  Nico answers bitterly, poking a hole in his mush that doesn’t get filled.

Leo sighs softly, “There wasn’t anybody when they first arrived with the food.”

“I was hungry.”

“And yet you haven’t eaten.”

Nico sits his bowl down, “I forgot how disgusting it is.”

After several minutes of Leo eating his own disgusting mush, he mutters, “We should talk about it.”

The idea doesn’t sound appealing, “I punched him. What’s there to talk about?”

“They all think we’re a couple.” Leo answers, surprising Nico, “Think about it; we sleep in the same corner not exactly far apart from each other, we stick to ourselves together, we share our food with each other.”

“We’re close.” Nico shrugs.

“I’m just saying that we should be aware that they think we’re involved.”

“They can think what they want as long as they don’t cause a fuss about it.” Nico’s left wondering when he’d become so...comfortable with the idea of people thinking he and Leo are an item. It means they’re less likely to get separated.

  
  


The next morning, they’re woken by the guards--Fatigues--before sunrise. Nico and Leo had taken to sleeping curled up together in a corner of the airplane bunker they’d spent the past two weeks in, watching as more and more kids showed up.

But in the pre-dawn light, they get hauled up and packaged into boxes before Nico can really open his eyes. He’s just glad Leo didn’t let them get separated. The darkness sooths Nico. That mixed with Leo’s warmth there next to him and the way the other boy is crabling the son of Hades against his chest lulls Nico back to sleep.

 

A few hours later, Nico wakes up to the darkness. He groans, and cuddles closer to the warm body next to him. They’re standing upright in some kind of box, but Nico can’t bring himself to care. Being perpetually cold, the warmth is always nice.

“Rise and gloom, sleepyhead.”

“Valdez?” Nico groans, “Shut up.”

Leo laughs before falling silent again. They fall into silence for a while with their arms wrapped around each others. Nico rests his head on Leo’s chest, and smiles into the blackness when he can hear the steady thumping of Leo’s heartbeat.

“You’re falling asleep again.” Leo mutters after a while.

“Am not.” Nico yawns, “Did they say how long this would be?”

Leo shakes his head in the dark which Nico can only tell because of the brush of air it causes.

They lapse into more silence before Leo voices, “What if they’re taking us to a harvest camp or parts pirates?”

“Then we better get out of there. You promised me no unwinding.”

There’s a jostling, and Nico moves closer to his companion, “What was that?”

“Turbulence.”

“We’re in an airplane?” Nico yelps.

“Calm down. They wouldn’t have put us in here if it wasn’t safe.”

“Safe?” He yelps again, “Leo, I’m a son of Hades anything to do with the air and safe don’t belong together.”

He’s have done something by now.” Leo reasons, “We’ve been in the air for hours.”

Slowly, NicoNico stops vocalizing his worry, “Shouldn’t we have found the others by now? It’s been almost two months since I woke up.”

“I don’t know.” Leo confesses.

  
  


During their welcome speech to the Graveyard, kds whisper about the Akron AWOL. They’d heard the name and rumors while in the safe houses, but the boy in blue camo in front of the really doesn’t look like much.

After he’s driven away they call a medic down to care for Nico’s burn. They claim it came from earlier, before the coffin, but their medic knows better.

“Leo, what did you do to my brother?” comes the all too familiar voice.

Nico turns sharply to face her and smiles brightly. He rushes over and wraps his arms around her in a tight hug, “Hazel!”

Leo brightens as well, and hugs her once Nico lets go, “Are the others here too?”

“Now that you’re here, we’re only missing Jason and Piper.” She answers, sitting Nico down to clean for his wound.

“Leo got scared on decent.” Nico tells her before asking what he really wants to know, “Why’d you leave?”

“What do you mean?”

“We were together in a house with Bianca and our moms but...they couldn’t find you.”

Hazel looks up from his burn, “I looked and I couldn’t find you so I left. I ran into Frank shortly after leaving the house.”

Leo smiles and throws his arm around Nico’s shoulders, “Guess you were just destined to get lost in an unforgiving world with my hotness.”

“Your hotness burns.” Nico retorts easily.

Hazel’s left looking between the two boys in curiousity. Nico still wears his extremely worn tithing whites and this is the first time she hasn’t seen him reject a touch from somebody other than herself, Percy, and occasionally Jason. Something in him has changed.


	17. Ch. 14-Jason

They don’t talk during the airplane ride, there’s nothing to say. But Jason holds her close, lovingly. He knows that Piper doesn’t understand what’s going on with him, but he can’t bring himself to explain it to her.

Jason doesn’t pay attention to the speech Connor’s giving them when they arrive. He keeps his gaze focused on the two standing next to Connor; Percy and Thalia. She hasn’t noticed him yet, but Percy has and he’s smiling.

Piper takes his hand gently in the crowd and whispers to him, “Is that your sister?”

“Yeah.” He whispers back, “She must be like Reyna was; existing in this world without knowledge of home.”

“Does that mean she knows who you are?”

Thalia looks over at the couple for a minute, blankly meeting Jason’s gaze, before returning her attention to Percy, “No, I don’t think she does.”

 

They both get picked up for the First Line. Part of Jason is relieved--Percy, Frank, and Nico are already there; and they’re in a power position--but he doesn’t like being with Thalia without being with her. The scared little boy within him wants his big sister to take care of him.

Day one, he’s in a fight, and gets a very disapproving look from Hazel while getting cleaned up by a medic. Even though he got hurt, people seem to understand the message: Stay out of my way.

Once the medic dismisses him, Jason heads back to the jet’s bathroom to wash the blood off. He scrubs his hands before splashing water over his face. The towel catches on his face as he wipes the water off.

Jason hates the sight in the mirror, and it makes him happy; something he can’t explain to anyone. The coloring in his eyes makes them sparkle; the matching purple and orange in his hair with the grown out bangs make it easier to hide; and the piercings--blobs on either side of his lower lip, a hoop in the left side of his nose and another in his right eyebrow, then the three holes along his left ear and a cuff the squeezes it tight. Jason doesn’t like how he looks, but that’s the point.

“What was that?” Hazel asks softly from behind him.

Jason answers bitterly, “He was making fun of Leo.”

“So, you kissed him?”

“That wasn’t the original plan.” He mutters, “I was gearing to fight him, and then remembered I don’t know how to street fight.”

“So, you kissed him?”

“It just kind of happened.” He turns from the mirror and starts out of the room, “I have work to do.”

Hazel grabs his arm, “What’s going on with you?”

Jason thinks about trying to explain to her, but after a minute, he shakes his head, “Don’t worry about it.”

 

 


	18. Ch.15-Percy

They meet in the store front in the dead of night by the light of a few candles they needed matches to light. His stomach feels numb because Percy had to make up an excuse to Thalia why he wanted to talk to their newbies at night (“But they have to learn night shifts sometime.”) and the other four were out of bed without permission.

Plus, there’s the coming clean; something he’s not looking forward to.

Once assembled in the darkness, Hazel asks, “So, what’s this about?”

“I think we should talk.” Percy answers slowly, “About how all this isn’t real.”

“I knew it.” Annabeth hisses, “You’ve known this wasn’t real all along, and you made me believe that you didn’t, that I was going crazy.”

Percy sighs, “I’m sorry, wise girl, I didn’t know what Morpheus did. If all of us were here or if it was just me and you were dream you who barely knew I existed.”

“Hold on.” Nio states, putting his hand up, “This is your dream?”

“Yes, this is my dream.”

“What happened in your childhood to make you dream fucked up shit like this?” Leo asks, gawking at him.

The son of Poseidon looks down at his hands and answers softly, “It’s a book.”

“What?”

“It’s a book.” Percy says again, louder this time, “My step-dad read it to me hoping it would make me more interested in reading and fighting my dyslexia, but it backfired because all I wanted to do was read this.”

Annabeth stares at him, “This is what you were listening to during training last summer?”

Slowly, he nods.

“I don’t get it. It’s just a book.” Piper states.

“It was a coping device, a distraction from the war.” Percy mutters, “From the constant fear, the constant threat, the friends dying all around me.”

Nobody has a response for that and after a minute Percy says slowly, “When I was getting my memories back, I guess they mixed with the books and I had dreams here.”

“How do we get out then?” Jason asks.

“I don’t know. We all got unwound in the end.”

“Encouraging.” Hazel sighs.

“But we have freewill.” Jason says, playing with one of the piercings in his lip, “We can change that.”

“How? Nico asks bitterly, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on it. Leo puts an arm around him and smile slightly.

Annabeth answers, “Depends on the moment. We do everything possible to stay together and stay whole.”

“Everything?” Hazel asks, a little shaky.

Percy expects Jason to speak up, talking about the need for basic survival and how Romans must conquer. But he doesn’t. Jason sits there, staring at his hands and apparently lost in thought. So, the son of Poseidon speaks up instead, “These people aren’t real, Hazel. They’re only an allusion made my Morpheus.”

“An allusion?” Jason breathes, “It doesn’t feel like an allusion. An allusion implies its not real, that you can’t touch it or feel it. That it doesn’t effect you. This isn’t that. This...this tears at you. It’s biting and harsh and...it takes something from you.”

“Jason?” Piper asks gently, taking his hand.

This is the first real sign to Percy that something’s wrong. Jason’s breathing hard and trembling while fiddling with some of his piercings. He’s tense, not looking at them, and down right oozing discomfort.

“Jason, what’s wrong?” Hazel asks him gently.

He seems to answer without really thinking about it, like he’s been waiting for somebody to ask, “They didn’t want me. They got rid of me like I don’t even matter. It’s just another place I don’t belong.” His voice breaks on the last word.

A few seconds pass where they don’t say anything. Nobody knows how to respond to such a blatant statement. But after a few seconds, Nico moves. He crawls over to Jason and wraps his arms around the blond’s neck. Jason hugs him back, pulling his cousin closer. Mid-embrace, Nico states so certainly that nobody dares to argue, “You belong with us.”

And it’s true, Percy realizes. They’ve been fighting together and he’s always viewed these people as is friend, but they haven’t really been acting like it. With the constant threat and fighting, none of them have really talked about much else; let alone get personal.

“You do too.” Jason mutters as he lets go of Nico.

The son of Hades turns his head over so slightly to the side before smiling and turning back, “Yeah.”

Chuckling, Jason asks with a raised eyebrow, “Yeah?”

“No.” Nico recoils some, looking appalled, “No. No. Maybe. No.”

Jason just laughs at that, pulling his cousin into another hug which he doesn’t fight. The whole exchange has Percy confused but he shrugs it off as Nico crawls back over to Leo. Those two have been acting extremely close and affectionate lately; but Nico’s smiling. It’s not a know-it-all smirk, or I’m-going-to-kill-you smile, but a real happy smile like he genuinely enjoys their presences.

“So, what happened?” Jason asks after a minute. He seems more relaxed now, “I know what happened to Piper and I, but what’s everybody else’s story?

Piper jumps in to start, “My dad and I were on a Cherokee reservation somewhere. Everything was fine until I went out alone into the woods. Some Parts Pirates grabbed me and locked me up in a room somewhere until Jason showed up and we escaped.”

“I just woke up and walked out of the house.” Hazel srhugs, “Frank and I met almost instantly, and we went to New Rome but it wouldn’t open.”

“It probably doesn’t exist here.” Percy mutters which isn’t an encouraging thought. No New Rome means there’s probably no Camp Half-Blood either.

In he silence that stretches on, that thought really sinks in. After a minute, Hazel puts Frank’s shoulder. He looks up quickly, and the words just still out, “Oh, uh...nothing really. I left and hopped a bus to Vegas where I found Hazel.”

Nico in turn, takes his time, “It felt like it would have been a normal day if I was used to the setting; breakfast with my mom and Bianca. They were worried about Hazel not being there but didn’t want me to know. My mom told me a story. Then the limo took me away. We were supposed to go to a Harvest Camp, but t driver took us to Cavenuag foundation for Tithes. From there I escaped and run into Leo behind a Tennessee bar.”

“What story?” Hazel asks, looking at her brother curiously.

Nico pauses before answering, “How our moms fell in love and came to raise us as twins.”

Sol;ence stretches between them for a minute. Percy finds the answer surprising. The idea off such a relationship doesn’t bother him, but he’d never associated it with Nico or Hazel. They come from another time, when it was far less acceptable, and whhile that doesn’t mean anything it makes Percy struggle with the concept in connection to them.

Obviously trying to defuse the tension, Nico lays down half on top of Leo, and looks up at him, “Your turn, Valdez.”

Leo reaches down, petting Nico’s hair, “Budget cuts. I wasn’t worth the orphanage keeping So...they ordered my unwinding. Said it showed mercy because otherwise I’d be going to jail for arson.”

Nobody has a response. It’s not really a surprising fate from what Percy knows of Leo. But it still seems to bother him. Nico reaches up to brush the back of his knuckles against Leo’s cheek. The Latino smiles down at the boy in his lap, “What about you, Annabeth?”

“I don’t know.” She sighs, “I woke up here without any knowledge of the past here.”

“Are you in the same boat, Percy?” Jason asks after a short pause.

“I woke up here, but it’s my dream. I know my past.” Percy answers slowly, “My step-father listed me for unwinding behind my mom’s back and she helped me go on the run. I’ve been here since a couple months after I turned thirteen.”

“And Thalia?” Jason asks softly, like it’s the question that’ been bothering him this whole time.

Percy shrugs, “She’s been here as long as I have. She’s a stork and from what she’s told me she ran away to find her birth brother but had nothing to go on and ended up here.”

“She doesn’t know who I am?”

Slowly, Percy nods. They sit in silence for a little while, just basking in being together again in the same place, before Annabeth mutters, “It’s late. We should get some rest.”

“Um, first.” Frank mutters, “You said this world is a book, right?”

Percy nods, “Yeah, called Unwind Dystology.”

Frank reaches into the bag strung over his shoulder and pulls out several books, making two piles between them, “Well, here we’re the book.”

Slowly, Nico reaches out to take one of the books. He reads the title out loud, “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Pretty cover.”

“You don’t show up until book three.”

Slowly, Hazel says, “That’s what you’ve been reading all this time?”

“Yeah, it’s fascinating. I’m on the last book.”

“What is the last one?” Jason asks, taking one from the second pile, “Heroes of Olympus, the Lost Hero.”

“That series.” Frank answers, “The House of Hades.”

Piper shakes her head, “But we’ve already done that.”

“Guess Morpheus doesn’t want to predict our fate.” Leo answers.

“Are they accurate?” Frank asks, “Obviously, I know the stuff with me in it is, but is the rest?”

The son of Hades passes the first two to Percy and Annabeth before picking up the third. All three skim the chapter titles and Nico flips through to read some of the first chapter, “Well, Percy really did tell Bianca and I to jump off a cliff with him.”

“Just looking this over, it appears to be right.” Annabeth tells him.

Jason’s reading the first few pages of the one he’d picked up, “Right so far. Do you mind if I borrow the first one? Reevaluating what happened might help figure out how to win the war.”

“Go a head.” Frank shrugs.

“I wouldn’t mind looking at the Titan War again.” Annabeth agrees.

The son of Mars nods, “Forewarning though, that’s first person through your boyfriend’s mind. It’s a little weird.”

The dissolves the meeting, and Percy starts organizing the night shift work. He leaves Jason and Frank to find places to read, Nico asks to walk Leo back to bed and Percy agrees easily, Piper helps Percy organise the parts and clean up.


	19. Ch.16-Leo

A large part of Leo feels awkward about this entire situation; here he is in the desert of Arizona, surrounded by dead airplanes and kids who legally don’t exist, but most of all it’s that he’s working side-by-side with the former Cabin Nine leader who’s supposed to be dead. For him, Charles Beckendorf is larger than life due to the stories he’d heard at camp, which isn’t helped by the fact that he is larger than Leo.

Beckendorf stands at least half a foot taller than Leo with broad shoulders, wide hips, and a lot of muscles. Leo’s awe doesn’t last very long, however, before long they’re elbows deep in grease and chatting fluidly about mechanics and engineering.

He’s easy to be with, and it saddens Leo everytime he thinks about how when they wake up Beckendorf will be gone again; his wealth of knowledge will disappear. As such, Leo’s decided to take in as much knowledge from him as he can before that happens.

They’re working in one of the rec jets, fixing some piping that’s supposed to be a water mister but got ripped down when a group of kids ripped it down rather than call for a Grease Monkey’s help. It doesn’t really need both of them, but since Leo’s new Beckendorf is taking him under his wing. Besides their occasional conversation, Leo can stay invisible on the wall. It’s nice to be able to stay hidden for a change.

Mostly, Leo listens to Starkey--a boy with blond and red hair who was in the storage yard with him and Nico. What he hears, Leo doesn’t like. The kid’s a stork like Jason, but he’s loudly proud of the fact and recruiting other storks left and right to join his little Stork Club. The whole thing makes Leo uncomfortable. Starkey’s talking treachery in Leo’s mind; never directly suggesting that Connor’s doing a bad job, but hiding his hatred under a thin veil of flattery.

Leo’s fear comes true that afternoon, however. He and Beckendorf are working on attaching the piping when Jason comes into the shadow of the jet. The blond heads right over to Leo with purpose, “Hey, Nico looked like he was searching for you.”

“Okay, thanks.” Leo turns slightly to flash him a smile before turning back to the section of piping, “I’ll go find him once I finish this section.”

“Yeah, he’s been acting weird.”

“You mean happy?”

“Yeah, it’s weird.” Jason leans against the jet, “You’re doing something to him.”

Leo shakes his head, “I don’t think it’s me. I just happened to get in the way.”

“Whatever, it’s a good thing.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Jason stands up, “Anyway, he’s looking for you. I have to go get changed for work. I’ll see you at dinner.”

“If you see Nico, tell him I’m here?”

“Yeah, of course.”

After Jason leaves, Leo tries to keep an eye on Starkey, and, sure enough, less than a minute after Jason left he makes his way out from under the jet’s shadow.

“Hey, Beck, I’m...going to use the restroom.”

Beckendorf follows his gaze before nodding, “Take your time.”

Leo’s worries get assuaged as he approaches Jason and Starkey. Sure, Jason’s listening, but there’s this look in his eyes like you’ve got to be kidding me. Leo shouldn’t of worried about Jason, his friend would never turn against them.

Starkey gives him the stink eye as Leo approaches to throw his arm around Jason’s shoulders, “Hey, actually, lets go find Nico. It must be something important if he’s looking for me during work hours.”

The son of Jupiter nods, “Yeah, okay. See you around Starkey.”

As they walk away together, Leo whispers, “Don’t look back.”

“He’s dead set on this Stork Revolution, isn’t he?” Jason whispers back, looking over at Leo. He’s scared, and it shocks the Latino.

Leo sighs, “I don’t know, but he’s trying to get specific stork time in the rec jet.”

“Connor won’t let him.”

“I hope not.”

 

Leo wakes up groggily when he feels the bed droop next to him. He can smell the dark chocolate of the deodorant Nico’s taken to putting on before bed. But the boy isn’t touching him. He can tell it’s Nico by the smell and the manner of the shift, but no small hands come to his back begging for attention.

After a minute, Leo turns over with his eyes still closed to reach out, wrapping his arms around the boy with him, and gently pulling Nico closer. The son of Hades buries his face in Leo’s sleeping shirt and clutches at it desperately. Into the dark, Leo whispers, “Bad dream?”

Nico just nods in response so he tries again, “Did you tell Percy you were coming here?”

“I told him I was going out.” He answered softly.

Leo silently pulled him closer, his eyes slipping closed, “Stay as you wish, but I’m going back to sleep.”

 

He really does feel bad about getting Percy and Beckendorf--Thalia would be in there as well, but she’s working--in trouble. He and Nico hadn’t meant to get them in trouble. It was the middle of the night and Nico crawled into his bed for cuddles, Leo wasn’t about to throw him out. Plus, Nico said he had a bad dream so he was just trying to sooth him.

They told the other two what happened and they understood, but rules were rules. The Graveyard isn’t fueled by hormones. So, they’re sitting outside Connor’s jet--under the wing--while the “adults” talk.

Leo hates it.

“So...You want to explain what happened last night?” Leo asks softly after a while.

Nico looks over at him, “You were there.”

“I meant the bad dream.”

“I...” Nico sighs, “I dreamed I was watching you get unwound. So, I woke up worried and...came to make sure that you were okay.”

“When are you going to admit that you don’t hate me?”

“I was never pretending to hate you.”

Before Leo can answer, the jet door swings open. The three boys stepped down to Nico and Leo. Connor’s been in a bad mood since Risa left, and it shows. But he softens slightly when he sees how Nico’s resting his head on Leo’s shoulder with the latino’s arm around him.

“Okay.” He mutters softly, looking between the two, “Are you two a couple?”

“Ew.” Nico mutters, making a face.

Part of Leo thinks it’s an act, but Connor seems to believe his reaction, “Obviously, there’s something going on, and we’re all in agreement that Leo can sleep in the First Line jet. There’s people coming in and out all night so there’s not really room for any funny business, and if sleeping in the same bed helps with whatever issues are happening then we’ll do our best to accommodate that.”

“Thank you.” Nico answers softly, offering Connor a smile.


	20. Ch. 17-Hazel

Hazel requests an evening shift in the medic jet one night. She knows Frank’s been working night shifts in the store front so then they wouldn’t have the issue of I’m-asleep-while-you’re-awake going on. Plus, she’s tired of all the blood and wounds. The night shift should be quieter since everybody else is asleep. Boy is she wrong.

Around midnight a boy rushes in practically in tears. His shoulder’s been dislocated but that’s not what he’s upset about, “Dylan, the engine just fell on him!”

Kiana, who usually works the night shift and has this big chip on her shoulder about proving what a good medic she is, gets to him first, “It’s okay, just take a deep breath and tell us where he is.”

Hazel gets left to care for the boy while everybody else on duty either rushes to get Dylan or to wake the other day-shift medics.

“Everything’s going to be okay.” Hazel tells him while giving him some pain meds and a cup of water, “Take these, I’m going to pop your shoulder back into place.”

He takes them obediently, “Thanks, Hazel, but you should look after Dylan.”

She knows this boy. He’s a regular in the medic jet; always getting scrapes, bumps, and bruises. And, he always insists on her taking care of him. Sometimes, she thinks he believes the other medics are incompetent. If that’s the case, it makes sense he’d like for her to take care of his friend.

“It’s okay, Sam. The others can take care of him.”

Before he can respond, they return with Dylan. Now, Hazel understands Sam’s worry. Dylan’s pale and trembling. His side has a large jagged rip in it with several ribs sticking out in awkward angles. Occasionally, he moans, shivers raking his body.

“Hazel, glove up!” One of their chief medics calls.

“Just, hang tight, Sam. I’ll be back soon, once your meds have kicked in.” She tells him before grabbing some of the latex gloves they’re running out of, and heads over to Dylan’s side.

There’s a kid scrambling to get him Lidocaine. Hazel doesn’t bother telling him it’s the wrong shot. She pulls the gloves on and, since she’s the one least affected by gore, carefully starts pushing his ribs back into place while one of the other medics talks him calm.

It’s not long before Risa comes rolling in, calling orders. Hazel helps escort Dylan out and into the ambulance. This isn’t something they can fix with poorly and only slightly trained staff. The only person who could help and was willing to come to the Graveyard was a no answer.

She watches uselessly as Risa and Kiana get in with him while Connor insists she doesn’t have to go. That boy’s there too; the one who came with Nico and Leo; Connor just promoted him to head of food services. The idea makes Hazel feel kind of sick to her stomach.

As the ambulance drives off, Frank comes running up. Hazel hugs him. He holds her close, “What happened?”

“Engine accident. Dylan had to be evacuated.” Then she remembers, “Oh, I have to put Sam’s shoulder back into place.”

He follows her back into the jet but stays back as Hazel goes over to Sam, “Are they kicking in?”

Sam nods, “Where’d they take him?”

“The Hospital. Dylan’s going to be fine.” She promises, resting a hand just past his shoulder blade.

“They’re going to unwind him, hu?” There’s a little tremble in his voice.

Rather than lying, Hazel just pulls his shoulder into place. He groans, but it’s not in any real pain. No, his reaction comes from her lack of words--for that’s response enough to confirm his fears.

After wrapping Sam’s shoulder, Hazel walks with Frank back towards the store front. He has an arm around her shoulders as she cuddles up to him with her arm around his waist. As they walk, he tells her, “It’s not your fault. You did all you could do.”

“I know. It still sucks, and Risa left. We don’t know if she’ll be back after that.”

They fall into silence for a while before he mutters softly, “It’s hard to remember these people are just dreams. Everything feels too real.”

Hazel nods, stopping outside the store’s back door. Moving onto the balls of her feet to gently press their lips together. Frank feels warm and comforting like a blanket to can wrap her up in safety.


	21. Ch. 18-Frank

Nobody ever comes in. Usually, the only visitor they get is the postman to pick up orders. But Frank’s used to the eeriness of the empty place by now.

He spends a lot of time sitting behind the counter reading. It bothers him that he’s nearing the end. He supposes there’s another book but he doesn’t have it. But they’re giving him dejavu. Every word of dialog was actually said the way it’s written, every situation, every feeling.

Since everything else really happened to the, Frank can only assume everything actually happened in Tartarus. Percy and Annabeth never talked about it and the others didn’t question them. But nothing he’s reading surprises Frank--until they find Cupid.

There are hints. Frank answer knew something happened between Jason and Nico in Croatia, but the trust is more than he’d expected.

_“I hated myself.” Nico said, “I hated Percy Jackson.”_

_Cupid becomes visible--a lean, muscular young man with snowy white wings, straight black hair, a simple white frock and jeans. The bow a quiver slung over his shoulders were no toys--they were weapons of war. His eyes were as red as blood, as if every Valentine in the world had been squeezed dry, distilled into one poisonous mixture. His face was handsome, but also harsh--as difficult to look at as a spotlight. He watched Nico with satisfaction, as if he’d identified the spot for his next arrow to make a clean kill._

_“I had a crush on Percy,” Nico spat. “That’s the truth. That’s the big secret.”_

_He glared at Cupid, “Happy now?”_

_For the first time, Cupid’s gaze seemed sympathetic, “Oh, I wouldn’t say Love always makes you happy.” His voice sounded smaller, much more human, “Sometimes it makes you incredibly sad. But at least you’ve faced it now. That’s the only way to conquer me.”_

Nico? Sure, Frank’s always known he’s not exactly a normal boy, but he’d never thought about his sexuality. But now that he knows, Frank can see all the hints at it; the way Nico hardly ever acknowledges Annabeth, the crack in his voice at Percy’s name, his aversion of people.

“Hey, you still reading that?” Percy asks, walking up next to him.

Frank looks up at him, “Uh, yeah.”

He sits next to Frank, “Anything interesting in there? Anything we might be able to use to get out of here?”

“Not as far as I can tell.” The son of Mars answers softly, reading the words over again. I had a crush on Percy, “Hey, Perce, what happened with Nico?”

Percy looks up at him from his paperwork, “What do you mean?”

Frank shrugs, “I was just wondering.”

“Why? Did it say something?” The son of Poseidon asks, moving to look over Frank’s shoulder at the book.

Frank closes the book but keeps the page number with his finger, “No, not...not exactly.”

Percy glances up at him, “What’s wrong? You look freaked out.”

“What? No, I was just curious.”

“Frank?”

Percy’s not letting up, and Frank gives up trying to hide things. Nico would have said something about it once he knew Frank has the books if he was concerned. He sets the book down on the counter before them, and flips it back open to the page. Percy leans forward to skim it, slowly reading to the end of the chapter rather than stopping where Frank did.

After several minutes, Percy stood up straight again, still staring at the book, “I didn’t...I didn’t know.”

“I gathered that much.”

Percy curiously turns the page and seems disappointed when there’s not more on the topic.

“He didn’t seem too worried about it the other night.”

The son of Poseidon shakes his head, “No, he didn’t. I’m going to go talk to him. I’ll send Clarisse in here.”

“Clarisse? Really?”

“You can’t keep avoiding her. You two will have to talk.”

Frank shakes his head, getting a sick feeling in his stomach, “I can’t, Percy. I don’t know what to say to her. She remembers stuff that I don’t. They never happened.”

“Just let her talk. She’ll tell you whatever you need to know.”

Percy doesn’t give Frank the chance to continue protesting, as he walks pointedly out of the store and back into the Graveyard.

The son of Mars decides to just start reading again, hoping that Clarisse will just leave him be.

_Nico knelt and picked it up. He regarded Jason, as if waiting for an attack. “If the others found out--”_

_“If the others found out,” Jason said, “you’d have that many more people to back you up and to unleash the fury of the gods on anybody who gives you trouble.”_

_Nico scowled. Jason still felt the resentment and anger rippling off him._

_“But it’s your call,” Jason added. “Your decision to share or not. I can only tell you--”_

_“I don’t feel that way anymore,” Nico muttered. “I mean...I gave up on Percy. I was young and impressionable, and I--I don’t...”_

The door opens, and Frank glances up at his sister entering. It’s not that he doesn’t want to get to know her, but a part of him is scared. Clarisse is very aggressive and she remembers things that she expects him to remember but he doesn’t.

“Frank?” She asks, moving to sit next to him.

“Hey.” Frank answers, keeping his gaze focused on the book. It was easier than looking at this girl who felt like his sister and at the same time not like his sister.

“You’ve been reading a lot lately.” She tries slowly, “You never used to read.”

“Guess I finally found something that interested me.” Her words leave Frank wondering why he had so many books in that room if he never read them.

After several minutes of silence, Clarisse says softly, “Fai, I think we should talk about it.”

“You left.” Frank says harshly, turning to look at her, “You knew what would happen to me, and you left without even saying goodbye.”

“Fai, I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”

He sighs, “I know, but he did.”

“At least you got out of there.” Clarisse smiles at him, putting her hand on his shoulder, “I missed you.”

Frank smiles slightly at her, “Why’d he do it?”

“I don’t know.”

He turns back to the book, and looks down at it.

_"Nico," he said gently, "I've seen a lot of brave things. But what you did? That was maybe the bravest.”_


	22. Ch.19-Nico

Nico yelps, “Valdez! Let go of me!”

Leo laughs brightly, not taking his hands from over the son of Hades’ eyes, “Awww, why would I do that?”

“So I won’t hit you.”

Instantly, Leo lets go, “Geez, di Angelo, lighten up some. I was just playing.”

“I’m eating.” Nico mutters back, deliberately taking a bite to prove his point.

Leo groans, sitting next to him with Hazel, Jason, Piper, and Annabeth. He fake coughs, “Bitch.”

Nico slaps his shoulder before offering Leo a bite from his plate.

“What are you doing to my brother, Leo?” Hazel asks, looking the two over.

Jason’s also watching them closely. His latest additions make Nico uncomfortable, but this is Jason who’s done his best to support Nico through all of his emotions for Percy. As such, Nico’s not going to criticize his appearance.

“Why do you think I’m doing something?” Leo retorts, throwing his arms around Nico’s shoulders, “He adores me.”

“You’re touching me.” Nico points out coldly, making the others laugh.

Before Leo can retort, Percy comes up to them, “Hey, Nico, can we talk?”

Something in his cousin’s eyes worry Nico, but he stands anyway, giving Leo the rest of his dinner, “Yeah, sure.”

Nico glances back as they walk away, and Leo’s not eating--a sign that he’s worried. He turns his attention back onto Percy, “What’s going on?”

The look in Percy’s eyes makes it obvious to Nico that this isn’t about something simple like taking on an extra shift because somebody’s sick. No, this is going to be the kind of serious talk they haven’t had in a long time.

Percy leads him back to the untouched planes before asking softly, without looking at Nico, “When were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?” But Nico can guess. It was only a matter of time with Frank having the books before somebody found it. Nico was expecting Frank, and really believed that he’d be okay with it just like Jason said. But for Percy to come talk to him...something must have happened. Percy only reads if it’s something he really wants to know.

“About the crush, Nico. What else would I be talking about?” For a second, Percy sounds angry, but Nico suspects that he’s angry at himself.

“I wasn’t. You didn’t need to know.”

“I didn’t need to know?” Percy asks, stopping to finally turn to Nico, “You had a crush on me? That makes it-”

“Would it have changed anything?” It’s Nico’s turn to sound angry, “If I had told you before you got together with Annabeth, would it have changed anything?”

Percy deflates some at the question, but that’s answer enough for Nico, “Exactly. You didn’t need to know.”

After a minute of awkward silence, Percy asks softly, “What about now?”

Nico sighs, and slowly confesses, “Percy, I love you. Honestly, I probably always will, but I’ve realized that I can’t just sit around and wait for you to notice me. That’s not fair to you, to me, or to Annabeth. There are other people out there who are attractive, and kind, and who might actually like me. I mean, maybe not, but I at least have a little bit more of a chance than with you.”


	23. Ch. 20-Percy

Percy wants to say he’s surprised, but looking back over the past few years he understands a lot more of his and Nico’s relationship now. But the thirteen year old boy standing in front of him looks so scared, even now when it’s obvious Percy isn’t grossed out by a boy having a crush on him. It’s like Nico’s terrified he’ll get stoned or something. Which, Percy can kind of understand since he knows enough about the forties to know that homosexuals in Europe were sent to camps as well.

He steps forward and wraps Nico in a tight hug. The younger boy doesn’t even fight against him, “It’s just not normal, Percy, it’s not right. I shouldn’t feel this way about boys, but I do. And try as I might, they won’t go away.”

“Since when have you cared about being normal?” That makes Nico look up at him, “I mean, normal’s overrated. You’re not normal, Nico, but none of us are normal. Normal people are boring. And it’s not your sexuality that makes you not normal, it’s how you view the world. You see it as something to fight for and protect while most people see it as something to be used.”

“I...If I save the world, can I get the boy too?”

“Course, I’m not going to make any promises, but if he likes you...saving the world is just showing off. Like those fish with the flashy scales that dull after they find a mate.”

Nico pulls out of their embrace, only mildly offended but deciding to pretend to be majorly offended, “Did you just say that I’ll become boring once I’m in a relationship?”

“No, that’s not what I meant! Gods, you’ve been spending way too much time with Leo.”

At Nico’s blush, something clicks in Percy’s mind, “You like Leo!”

“I do not!” But he protests too loudly so Percy knows it’s true, but he suspects that Nico honestly believes that he doesn’t have a thing for Leo. Percy’s not going to be the one to push it, however. Nico needs to find out on his own.

Luckily, he’s saved from answering by Trace rushing up to them, “Hey, guys. Percy, Connor wants to have a meeting with us and Thalia like...right now.”

“Okay.” Percy flashes him a smile before playfully punching Nico’s arm, “Good talk.”

He follows Trace silently until they get to Connor’s jet. Thalia’s already sitting in the plush room, idly chatting with Connor. When the other two arrive, Thalia pulls Percy close and he gladly accepts the company. Percy pulls his cousin closer as they sit together on a couch. Thalia puts her head in his lap, and Percy wraps his arm around her with his other running through her hair.

Percy knows that some people think there’s something going on between the two of them, but those close to them know that everything’s platonic. They’ve been at the Graveyard together longer than hardly anybody else, when Connor took charge he promoted them together, and together they’ve been working to protect the Graveyard’s image. So far, they’ve been succeeding.

Thalia takes Percy’s hand, running her fingers over it curiously, “Where were you? Frank said something came up that you needed to deal with.”

“Just Nico.” Percy muttered, “I was worried and needed to check that he’s okay. He’ll be just fine.”

Connor looks the two of them over before speaking, “The FDR has ended their assistance in the Graveyard.”

“What?” Thalia yelps, sitting up some.

“We’ll have to make up a movement plan since the Juvies know where we are.” Trace explains, “We should also come up with a rapid escape plan in case of attack.”

“And you want our help with that?” Percy asks.

“Of course.” Connor smiles slightly which is a good sign despite the amount of stress that he’s under, “You’re our best.”

 

The next morning, Percy watches as the Dreamliner jet gets moved. He can sense when the small group of teens come up behind him. Annabeth’s arms wrap around his chest and her chin rests on his shoulder. Percy puts his hands on top of her’s. They remain silent for a while before Jason asks softly, “Something’s changing, isn’t it?”

Percy turns his head to look at his cousin with his tri-colored hair and piercings. He nods, “They’ve cut our funding. Connor’s planning to move, but in case of an attack we’ve developed an emergency evac plan.”

“So, there’s going to be blood soon?”

“I think we should come up with our own plan in case of an attack in case we can’t get to the jet.”


	24. Ch. 21-Leo

The attack comes suddenly; they have no warning. As soon as it starts, however, everybody in the Graveyard knows. They all start running to position, except for six of them. Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Nico, Leo, and Piper have different positions.

As it starts, Leo takes a hold of Nico’s hand and starts pulling him through the crowd. The son of Hades tolds tight, running along beside him as they make their way through the panicked teens towards the front; toward the juvies infiltrating their safe sphere.

He can see Thalia, Connor, and Beckendorf as he races past. They quickly get out of the crowd, and they catch sight of the other four. Together, they rush to the storeroom door. Percy and Jason are already there, having been on duty when the attack came. Leo’d caught sight of the juvies rolling tanks against the entrance gates, ready to plow down on the group of teenagers without a second thought.

As they step inside, Percy hands each of them a gun. Leo’s never held one before coming here. He never had a reason to. But now, peeking out at a small army who would tranq them and throw them to the operation dogs without a second thought, Leo can understand the need for one.

“What’s the plan?” Frank whispers into the darkness surrounding them.

“Don’t die. Stay together.” Jason answers just as softly.

Nico sighs, “That’s specific. Thank you.”

“Just stay down.” Percy whispers, easily cocking his gun and they all follow suit, crouching behind the front desk, “Hopefully, they won’t come in, there’s no reason to suspect anybody’s in here.”

Leo can feel his heart racing, and it’s hard to breathe. Outside comes the screams and cries of other whollies, and he has to stop himself from rushing out there to defend them. But they aren’t real. The people here are just dreams, Beckendorf is just a dream. He’s dead, he passed on a year ago and is happily living in the Isles of the Blessed with his girlfriend.

Nico breaks Leo from his thoughts by taking his hand shakily, and Leo looks over at him. Together they ask in a whisper, “Are you okay?” Before answering, “I’m scared.”

He tightens his grip on Nico’s hand, pressing harder against the wall and the ground and the boy to his left because they’re solid. They’re all solid, and comforting, and real. Very, very real. But Nico’s trembling and breathing hard and so obviously terrified by the amount of gunfire going on outside. Leo lets go of his hand to wrap an arm around him shoulders and pull him closer.

Leo’s not sure how long they crouch there, huddled together in the dark and desperately clutching their guns as the only way to defend themselves in this dark world. But it does end, the gunfire slows and then silences. They still don’t move, almost silently daring each other to do so first.

But still, nobody moves. They stay still until the soft tinkle of the bell above the door comes, signaling it’s opening and somebody’s footsteps come in. It’s only one person, not an army. But Leo’s praying the person doesn’t find them, but he knows that’s useless. They’re in the most obvious hiding place in history. Leo’s incredibly tempted to stand, to confront the person slowly moving towards them, to just fire.

He doesn’t get the chance to give in to that idea for Frank does it first. Leo sits there in horror as Frank stands and fires once. The sound of something hard thudding to the ground comes and suddenly Frank looks sick.

“That...wasn’t a tranq?” He mutters in awe and confusion and horror.

His words seem to surprise Percy as well, “I...I didn’t realize they changed the bullets. We have to get out of here.”


	25. Part. 4-Harvest

 

Illegal Organ Trade Market:

| 

$0.075 Billion ($75 Million)  
  
---|---  
  
Profit for Organ Trafficker :

| 

15X Between Buying Price and Selling Price  
  
Profits from Selling Dead Body :

| 

$200,000  
  
  
  
  


Average paid by Kidney Buyer:

| 

$150,000  
  
---|---  
  
Average paid to Seller of Kidney:

| 

$5,000  
  
Kidney Traffickers in Turkey:

| 

$10,000 profit  
  
  
Source: http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/organs-kidneys/


	26. Ch. 22-Connor

He wakes up in a comfortable bed in a comfortable room with a computer, a late-model TV, and sports posters all over the walls. He’s groggy enough to think he actually might be in heaven, but nauseous enough to know he’s not.

“I know you’re pissed at me, Connor, but I had to do it.”

He turns to see Lev sitting in the corner, in a chair that’s painted with footballs and soccer balls, and tennis balls to match the decor of the room.

“Where are we?”

“We’re in Sunset Ridge Homes, model number three: the Bahaman.”

“You brought me to a model home?”

“I figured we both deserved comfortable beds, at least for one night. It’s a trick I learned from my days on the streets. Security patrols are looking for thieves, not squatters. They roll past but never go into model homes unless they see or hear something suspicious. So as long as you don’t snore too loud, you’re fine.” Then he adds, “Of course, we’ve gotta be out by ten; that’s when they open. I stayed too late in a model once and nearly scared the realtor to death.”

Connor pulls himself to the edge of the bed. On TV is a news report. Aftermath and analysis of the AWOL raid at the airplane graveyard.

“It’s been on the news since last night,” Lev tells him, “Not enough to preempt the infomercials and stuff, but at least the Juvies aren’t hiding it.”

“Why would they hide it?” Connor says, “It’s their stinking moment of glory.”

On TV, a spokesperson for the Juvenile Authority announces that the count of AWOLs killed was thirty-three. The number brought in alive is four hundred and sixty-seven. “With so many, we’ll have to divvy them out to various harvest camps,” a man says, not even realizing the irony of using the word “divvy”.

Connor closes his eyes, which makes them burn. Thirty-three dead, four hundred and sixty-seven caught. If Starkey got away with about a hundred fifty, that leaves maybe sixty-five who managed to escape on foot. Not nearly enough. “You shouldn’t have taken me, Lev.”

“Why? Would you rather be a trophy to go along with their collection of Unwinds? If they find out that the Akron AWOL is alive, they’ll crucify you. Trust me, that’s one thing I know about.”

“The captain is supposed to go down with the ship.”

“Unless the first mate knocks him out and throws him in the lifeboat.”

Connor just glares at him.

“Fine.” Lev says, “You wanna punch me?”

Connor chuckles at that and looks at his right arm, “Careful what you ask for, Lev--I pack quite a punch these days.” Then he shows Lev the tattoo.

“Yeah, I noticed ath. There must be a story there. I mean, you hated Roland, right? Why’d you get the same tattoo?”

Now Connor laughs out loud. Hard to imagine Lev doesn’t even know that it’s not just the tattoo that came from his archenemy--but then how could he? “Yeah, there’s a story.” He says, “Remind me to tell you about it someday.”

Onscreen, they’ve cut live to the Graveyard where “an unfolding drama” is taking place. One last batch of AWOLs has held off the Juvies by one by holing up inside an old World War II bomber.

“It’s the ComBom! Hayden held them off all night!” For Connor it’s almost like victory.

The ComBom hatch opens, and Hayden comes out, carrying a limp kid in his arms. He’s followed by a bunch of other kids, none of them in good shape. The Juvies move in, and so do the media.

“We’re watching the capture of the final AWOL Unwinds...”

The reporters don’t get close enough to stick microphones in Hayden’s face, but they don’t have to. In spite of the Juvies’ attempt to spirit him into the transport van, he sounds loud enough for everyone to hear.

“We are not just AWOLs! We are not just parts! We are whole human beings--and history will look back on these times in shame!”

The shove him and other other kids into the van, but before they slam the door, Hayden shouts, “To the new Teen Uprising!”

Then the van carries them away.

“Way to go, Hayden.” Connor says, “Way to go!”

The news briefly reports on the plane that got away, but as that’s an embarrassment to the Juvies, not much is said. At first they had forced a plane to land in Dallas, thinking it was the AWOL Dreamliner, but it turned out to be a passenger flight from Mexico City. There have been unconfirmed reports of a plane going down in a California lake, but nothing further is daid. Connor suspects the plane that went down in the Dreamline--and as much as he’d like to see Starkey at the bottom of the lake, Connor hopes the storks survived the crash. That would be more AWOLs who got away from the Juvies.

Damn Starkey! He brought the Juvies down on them, then took half the weapons, hijacked their only means of escape, and left everyone else high and dry. And yet as much as Connor wants to blame Starkey, he can’t help but feel the brunt of the blame. He was the one who trusted Starkey to begin with, allowing him to amass power among the storks.

Lev’s about to turn the TV off when Connor stops him. The news cast is showing a sweeping sky view of the Graveyard, and something catches his eye. There’s a group of small dots creeping out of the storefront cautiously, like they thought the Juvies were gone. But no such luck. In the next instant, the media is on them.

These kids don’t go as quietly as Hayden’s group did, and they appear to be in better shape as they struggle and fight against the Juvies. But there’s too many adults. Connor groans as he realizes who this group is, Percy with some of the Front Line. He can see Frank, that punked up blond...Jason and his girlfriend Piper, and the one who had caused him all the worry about sleeping arrangement.

“Who is that kid?” Lev asks, pointing to him.

“Nico. He worked the storefront with the rest...well, most of that group.” Connor can see Hazel in their pack, and Leo presses himself close behind Nico, and Percy is holding Annabeth’s hand.

Lev shakes his head, pointing to Leo as well, “I know those two. They were at the tithing house last time I saw them.”

Shaking his head, Connor mutters, “They showed up about a month and a half ago. They’re tithes?”

“The one is.” He realizes that Lev doesn’t know the boys’ names, “The other...I vouched for. I wasn’t about to let them throw him back onto the streets. I managed to convince them to keep him around.”

“Stupid, Percy.” He sighs, “They thought they were done. If you’d just hidden for a little bit longer...”


	27. Ch. 23-Leo

Leo stares down at the shackles on his wrists and ankles. He’s brewing with hatred and anger, but mostly embarrassment. They lost. Their first--and hopefully last--battle here and they lost.

The truck hits a pothole and the eight of them jostle around a bit but the chains keeping them in place. Leo wants Nico next to him. He has to be scared, and he always comes to Leo when he’s scared. But the cuffs keep Nico in place in the back of the truck and Leo in the front with Percy and Jason between them. Leo’s knee occasionally brushes Frank’s across from him.

Nobody says anything for a while. After maybe forty minutes, Frank says softly, “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

“No it’s not.” Annabeth answers, “We were vastly outnumbered to begin with. We had no chance.”

Before anybody can say more, the truck stops and the doors bang open. Leo groans, covering his eyes as the sunlight burns through them. Think, heavy boots step onto the truck, making loud bangs echo around the metal enclosure.

“Those two, in the back.” The rough voice sounds, and Leo doesn’t dare to look up because he knows who the man is talking about. They’re going to take Nico and Hazel away.

More clanging and the dropping of chains only solidifies what he already knows. When Nico’s hand comes into sight, Leo gently reaches out to take a hold of it for a second. He glances up to see the look of terror in Nico’s muddy eyes, and offers him a slight smile. Reluctantly, Nico smiles back, and Leo lets go. He can see Frank doing the same thing for Hazel on the other side of the truck

With the brother and sister holding hands, they step out of the truck, and just like that they’re gone. Leo’s left wondering if he’ll ever see them again.

They’re left in silence for a while as a group of adults whisper outside. Leo can feel tears trying to fight their way out of him; they’re going to unwind us right away, we won’t have the chance to stop it. Mostly, however, it’s due to one thing, he lied to Nico.

“Frank Zhang, Piper McLean.” The guard calls and Leo feels his heart sinking. They can’t do this! Only the heartless can do this!

“Ms. Griswold here will escort you home. We apologize for the confusion.”

“No.” The break in Frank’s voice makes Leo look up into his petrified eyes, “No, you can’t send me back there.”

“Ms. Griswold will deal with any complaints.” The man grunts, and the chains on Frank’s wrists drop. He still looks terrified, and not at all like a son of Mars, but gets out of the truck.

Piper follows him, but before she can get out, Jason grabs her hand. She looks down at him, understanding the question in his eyes. Leo can just barely hear her whisper, “I don’t have an order form.”

She leans down and gently kisses Jason, and they’re both fighting back tears. Jason whispers softly, “I love you.”

And Piper whispers it back before he lets go of her, and she continues out of the truck. Before they can leave, however, Ms. Griswold halts the proceedings by stepping up into the truck. She moves over to Jason gracefully, but grabs his chin harshly to make him look up at her. Jason’s glare should be able to melt plastic.

She turns his face to either side, examining him, “You do realize those pigments can be taken out, right? Your hair still grows in that golden blond color, and the piercings can be taken out. You’ve done nothing to yourself that we can’t return to normal.”

Jason growls as she heads back outside of the truck. They can just hear her telling the guard, “We’ll still take his eye, and don’t bother sending the IQ results. He’s as dumb as a stump.”

Piper looks in at him wide-eyed for a minute before a guard escorts her and Frank away, into a limo with Ms. Griswold.

With that, there’s four of them. The doors bang closed again, and the truck starts up. After a few seconds of silence, Percy asks softly, “She wants your eyes?”

“Just the left one.” Jason mutters softly.

“That’s why the change?” Annabeth asks, “So, you’ll appear less attractive because then they wouldn’t want you?”

He doesn’t get the chance to answer before the doors bang open again, “Welcome to Autumn Sun Harvest Camp.”


	28. Ch. 24-Annabeth

The first thing they do is separate Annabeth from the boys. She assumes the three of them get separated as well. She watches from a plush office as first Percy and then Jason and lastly Leo get paraded around the courtyard sporting chains.

“Ms. Chase, I apologize for making you wait. Your arrival was quite unexpected.” A woman enters the room in a quickly put together pencil suit. Her puke shirt flairs out obnoxiously around the edge of her jacket, “My name’s Dr. Waddell. I’ve been assigned your case.”

Annabeth glances at her briefly before returning her gaze to Percy’s figure standing in the early morning light with others milling around him, “My case?”

“Of course, dear.” The doctor comes over to her, placing a hand on the small of Annabeth’s back, “We want you to get well again. I believe the best way to do that is for you to distance yourself from those boys you arrived with. You need to look out for your best interest.”

“And you think distancing myself from my boyfriend and two of the best friends I’ve ever had it in my best interest?” Annabeth asks, turning to face her as Percy gets led away with Jason at his side.

“You have to look out for yourself.” The doctor insists, “We want to get you healthy so your division will go smoothly.”

“And if I don’t want to be divided? If I don’t want to die?”

“You don’t die. You just stop living.”

 

After the meeting with Dr. Waddell, Annabeth gets taken straight to a barracks. The label on it glares at her GB6. As she enters, she figures out that the G stands for “Girls” as everybody in there wears bright pink clothes and they all have long hair although some look like it was shorter when they arrived.

The guard leads Annabeth through to an empty bunk, “You’ll sleep here. There’s clothes in the closet. If you need a different size, go to the supplies closet.”

Before Annabeth can ask where that is, he leaves. She sits down on the empty bed and simply stares at her hands. Despite their words, she’d never want the unwinding. There’s no way she’ll accept it. Percy and Jason would fight if they ever try to take them. Leo...Annabeth’s not sure about. He’s not much of a fighter, but she believes that he wouldn’t just accept that. No, he’d fight. He’d fight for Nico. Annabeth doesn’t know what’s going on with them, but there’s no way Leo would leave Nico. That much she’s sure about.

“You must be new here.” A female voice says brightly from in front of her, and Annabeth looks up slowly. The girl before her has long brown hair that looked like it started out as short due to how choppy it is, and the bright pink isn’t flattering on her, “I’m Ramona.”

“Annabeth.” She answers softly.

Ramona sits down next to her, “It’s not that bad here. Just keep your head down and don’t be too good and you should last for a while.”

Annabeth shakes her head, “What’s the point? We’re all going to be unwound anyway.”

“Yeah, but if you get pregnant right before turning seventeen, they can’t unwind you.” Ramona whispers this even though Annabeth suspects everybody else there already knows. It’s a bit of information Annabeth hopes she’ll never have to utilize, but it’s late June. If they don’t get out soon, she’ll have to reevaluate her options.

“What do we do in the meantime?” She asks.

“Sports mostly. They want to get us the best physical condition we can be.”

“And the mental exams?”

Ramona nods, “Mandatory. Then you can’t fuck up the fucker who gets parts of your brains.”

A bell rings from the corner of the room, and Annabeth covers her ears. Once it ends, Ramona stands, “You’ll want to get dressed fast. That was the breakfast bell. We have thirty minutes to get food before exercises start.”


	29. Ch. 25-Guard

The unwinds spend their time getting into the best physical state they can be in. Their diets are strictly regulated along with their daily activities. Everything is done to create maximum legal income for the Harvest Camp. After all, retroactive abortion is a booming industry.

Omnipresent, the guards work to protect the unwinds from each other as much as themselves. Fights are prevalent in Harvest Camps; such as the one between a boy with dyed hair and holes where his piercings should be, and a red haired boy.

The guard doesn’t know how it starts, but when he pulls the piercing boy off the other, the kid keeps fighting; yelling to leave his friend alone. The kid ends up in solitude for a few days.

He’s seen others like that boy before--rude, defiant, angry, dangerous--and there will be more after he walks up the red carpet and goes under the knife. At the moment, there’s another, a dark haired raven, of the same breed. He spends even more time in solitary than the other. The two spend a fair amount of time together along with a brunette boy.

The guard caught that boy staring at him while talking to one of the others about a tithe-- a dark haired boy whose not sleeping or eating, and spends all his time alone or with his sister--and he had to yell at the boy to keep him moving through the lunch line.

During co-ed time, they sit together with a blonde girl. She doesn’t make a fuss about things. She just keeps her head down and minds her own business.

The guard prefers unwinds like that which is why he likes being with the tithes so much. They don’t make noise or cause trouble. Tithes don’t have regulated schedules; they’re allowed to do as they please as long as they stay within their boundaries. Mostly, they sit around praying, talking in groups about how hard their lives have been as the chosen ones. All except two of them.

The di Angelo twins spend most of their time together, not really engaging with the others. She does more than he does. She’s more willing to go up to the other kids, ask questions, talk to the adults, and play with them. He sits moodily in the corner most of the time, never speaks during sessions either in their house or at the tree the tithes often visit, and according to the video cameras he rarely sleeps while usually refusing food.

The tithes go to the tree almost every day. It’s a large oak that’s been growing there for several hundred years, stretching thirty feet wide around at it’s base and more than fifty feet into the air. They tithes come from all different walks of life including religion. But there’s a spark this tree creates in all of them. For they see themselves as eternal like it is; climbing high and branching out to touch the lives of as many people as they can. At least, most of them see it as such.

The di Angelo boy goes with the others to the tree, not that he has a choice as that’s the one mandatory activity for them. But he remains silent there, staring up into the branches rather than speaking. Neither him nor his sister share much about their past despite going to counseling to open up more. The guard assumes something happened to them when they were on the run with those useless unwinds. But tithes aren’t like unwinds; they see beauty in this act of self-sacrifice. But he feels like the twins aren’t like other tithes. They see this as a bad thing, and it doesn’t seem like that’s changing. He doesn’t see them changing at all any time soon.


	30. Ch. 26-Leo

This whole activity thing bothers Leo. There’s nothing wrong with his little layer of fat covering his abs or that the muscles in his upper body aren’t pronounced--even though his time in the Graveyard worked that some. But they think there is. He’s not special. He’s just little Leo. He’s not going to make them very much money.

And putting him in a volleyball match against two guys with twice as much muscle mass as he has, is not going to help. Army boeufs. Even with Jason on his team, they’re majorly losing. The other team is nice at least.

Carter, the smaller and Leo assumes nerdier one, offers Leo an apologetic smile after slapping the ball in his face.

“Sorry.” He mutters.

“Why are you showing off so much?” Leo whispers through the net, “You’ve got to know that they’re watching us. The better you look the sooner you get into the Chop Shop.”

“Exactly.” Carter whispers back, “It means we don’t have to stay in limbo any longer.”

“You want to be unwound?”

“Of course not, but it’s been than being stuck here doing useless things for the next year.”

Leo shakes his head, but in the process he catches sight of a small gaggle of teens in bright white clothes milling about on the other side of a fence. Standing at the fence however, apart from the others, is a boy with dark brown hair and lightly tanned skin. He’s watching the volleyball game. Leo turns to Carter again, “Hey, can you over shoot the ball to that fence for me?”

Carter glances over to it, “Why? That boy there your friend?”

“Yeah, I need to talk to him but they keep the tithes separate.”

Slowly, the other boy nods, “Yeah, sure.”

They step back into position, and Carter tosses the ball into the air. He smacks it with his wrist, and the ball flies over Jason’s head to bounce to a stop right by Nico.

“Thanks.” Leo whispers before starting to run over to it, “I got it.”

He runs over to the fense, offering Nico a soft smile, “How you doin’, sweetheart?”

Nico rolls his eyes, whispering, “You’re going to get us in trouble.”

“Oh, poor baby, take a chance for a change.” Leo stoops down to pick the ball up, “I heard some of the guards talking about how you’ve stopped eating.”

“I eat.” Nico mutters.

“Then eat more.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Nico, we need to pretend to cooperate. Then we won’t stick out, and they won’t get suspicious of us.”

“Oh, yeah? And how are we supposed to get out, Leo! Because as far as I can see, we can’t and we aren’t even trying.”

And Leo realizes that he’s right. They aren’t doing anything, “We can meet somewhere tonight. We’ll figure out what to do. I promise, we’re going to be okay.”

Nico’s little hand squeezes through one of the holes in the face, and Leo takes it, “I promise, Nico. You know I don’t break promises.”

One of the guards yell at Leo to get away from him and Nico mutters softly, “There’s a tree in the woods. They take the tithes there. Hazel and I will meet you guys at the edge of the woods, and we can go there to talk. An hour after curfew.”

Leo nods, “An hour after curfew.”

He slowly lets go of Nico’s hand, moving the ball from under his arm. Leo winks at Nico before running back to the game. While handing the ball to Jason, Leo whispers, “We’re meeting with Nico and Hazek tonight about breaking out of here.”


	31. Ch. 27-Percy

Percy stares down at the barrack’s floor through his wet hands. That’s exactly the problem though; they’re wet. It’s an odd feeling he hasn’t experienced in a while.

Normally, when Percy doesn’t want to get wet he doesn’t. But here, he seems to be hydrophilic. Percy’s always wet. After a whoer, it sticks to him like the water is basking in the presence of Poseidon's heritage. Even Frank complained about it while they were in the Graveyard. He can’t figure out why that would be.

“Percy.”

He doesn’t look up as Jason rushes into the room.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to make the water move.” Percy mutters in response.

Jason moves over to look at Percy’s hands, “It’s not working.”

“No shit. What did you want?”

“Oh, right.” It seems like Jason forgot why he came for a minute, “They’re taking Leo into the Chop Shop.”

“What?” Percy yelps, rushing to put his clothes on.

“They just came to get him, hauled him off with Leo fighting. But he calmed down after a few seconds.”

Percy yanks the door open and runs for the Chop Shop with it’s classical music eerily washing over their lost souls. He stops dead when he catches sight of their latino friend being lead down the blood carpet. A starch white blur rushes up to Leo as he reaches the shadows of hell. The boys tangle together for a few seconds before disappearing.


	32. Ch. 28-Nico

For the first time since waking up in that pale white room, Nico feels hopeful to the point he worried about a broken rib. Leo’s given him that hope which cripples him. Leo cripples him. Leo’s broken his ribs, leaving his chest empty.

He curls up tighter, staring into the darkness. Nico doesn’t want to admit what just happened with Leo. He’s still scared to face his feelings; but Jason said it would be okay, Percy said it’s okay. Nico wants it to be okay. With Leo, he wants it to be okay.

“Nico!” Hazel calls, entering the room, “Come on, we’re going to the tree.”

“I don’t want to go.” Nico mutters into the darkness.

She pulls the blanket from over him, “Nico, they’re going to think something’s...What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. We’re meeting with Leo and the others tonight at the tree to find a way out.”

“That’s nice. Why are you crying?”

“Nothing. I don’t want to come.”

Hazel sighs, and grabs a tissue to wipe his face with, “They’re going to make you come anyway. It’s better not to make a fuss. Did Leo do something?”

“No.” Nico mutters, standing up to put on new clothes that are identical to those he’s wearing.

“What’s going on with you two?”

“Nothing.”

“Nico?”

“Nothing!” He turns on her darkly, new shirt in hand with his old on in the laundry bin.

After a minute, she whispers, “I’m worried about you. You were doing so good at the Graveyard.”

“Yeah, well, it’s hard to stay perky in a Death Camp.”

Hazel glares at him, “You know it’s not that bad.”

“It doesn’t feel much better.”

 

Nico regrets what he said. The Death Camps of the forties and the Harvest Camp can’t be compared. He’s always been detached from them before--maintaining the I-didn’t-do-it mentality--but now the idea makes him angry. Harvest Camps are the closest he can get to being in a Nazi Camp. Nico hates it here, he can’t imagine being there. And to think, a son of Hades did that because he couldn’t get into art school.

“Leo.” Nico hears Hazel whisper as they walk in formation through Camp.

He looks up to see what she means. Leo--his Leo--is getting escorted up along the red carpet toward the Chop Shop, and no teen who goes in in one piece gets out that way.

Leo turns and makes eye contact with Nico. He’s scared. He’s so scared, and Nico feels like crying because Leo promised that nobody would get unwound. But there he is, almost to the shadow of death.

Hazel tightens her grip on his hand--because the buddy system will protect them from the filthy unwinds--and whispers, “Nico, you can’t do anything.”

And she’s probably right. They won’t stop the unwinding because Nico throws a fit. At the least, he can show Leo how thankful he is.

Nico pulls his hand away from his sister, and breaks away from them. He runs from the tithes faster than he can ever remember running before, “Valdez!”

Leo stops, and turns to fully face him. The guards must not have been holding him very tight since the momentum pulls his arms out of their grip. He smiles and manages to catch him when Nico jumps to throw his legs around the Latino’s waist. Desperately, he smashes their lips together as Nico feels the tears finally leaving him. But in his frenzy, Nico realizes that Leo’s kissing back and pulling him closer.


	33. Ch. 29-Leo

Leo opens his eyes when the squeezing around his chest ends. Of course, the lithe legs still hold tight around his waist and muscular arms around his neck. Nico’s light but he still puts weight on Leo’s hips. It’s a nice weight though.

Then, he notices the other boy’s tears. Leo pulls out of the kiss, his thumbs rubbing the small of Nico’s back, “What’s wrong?”

“You promised.” Nico mutters, burying his face in Leo’s neck, “You promised me that nobody would get unwound. That includes you. I...I don’t want your pants to catch on fire.”

Leo smiles and pulls Nico closer while he sits down against a tree, “But I’m not getting unwound. I’m sitting safely in a forest with a beautiful boy in my lap who seems to be in desperate need of some more kisses.”

Pressing his lips to Nico’s once again, a happy bubble fills Leo’s chest. After all this time, Leo finally has Nico’s lips pressed against his.

Nico pulls back but he’s no longer crying. He giggles happily, covering his face. Leo thinks its the cutest noise ever heard. Gently, he pulls Nico’s hands down and leans in to cover the other boy’s face in kisses, leading to more giggles, “Leo, no!”

“You will take away my happiness?” Leo laughs, turning them over to pin Nico down and continue covering his face in kisses.

“It’s my face!”

“By kissing me, you gave me permission to kiss your face all I want.”

Nico puts his hands on Leo’s chest, pushing him up, “What does this mean? I mean...Were you kissing back to be nice?”

“No, I’m kissing back because I want to kiss you.” Leo smiles down at him, “Because I really like you, and I believe that you deserve somebody who will treat you like the angel you are.”

“Cheesy dork.” Nico mutters, blushing.

Before Leo can kiss him again, they hear sounds coming from their left. Nico looks around for the first time and curses in Italian, “The tithes are coming. We have to hide.”

They stand up and look around for a few seconds before Leo points to the large, main tree in their little clearing. Nico looks like he wants to protest, but Leo doesn’t give him time as the voices approach. He pulls the son of Hades over to the tree, and helps Nico onto the lowest branch before pulling himself up. The duo climbs as high as they can. But maybe a minute later, Nico settles himself on a branch and Leo takes his lead to sit on the one next to him.

He looks down as a small gaggle of white clad young teens come out through the trees. Leo can see Hazel among them, but she doesn’t seem focused on whatever they’re doing. She’s worried about her brother no doubt. The small cult makes a semicircle on one side of the tree the two of them are hiding in, and start talking one by one. It looks like a little prayer circle.

Their words speak about being special, and having a purpose greater than themselves. Not one talks about an interest in art, or poetry, or dance, or history, or sports. Every word said down beneath where Leo’s hiding with Nico by his side sounds like these kids never believed they had a life so when they inevitably get taken apart piece by piece, completely aware of what’s going on, it will not be death. For how can one die if they’ve never lived?

Leo knows he’s always cared about people, even if he tried to tuck that caring away in a box without a key. But to give up your entire being to save a stranger? Leo doesn’t think he could ever do that.

He looks over to the boy sitting next to him on the branch, clad in the same whites as those kids down below, and notices tears streaming silently down Nico’s cheeks. Even though he’s not supposed to be moving, Leo reaches across to brush them away with his thumb. Nico looked over at him, and smiles slightly.

Leo sees movement down below, and looks down to meet Hazel’s gaze. She’s wide-eyed, but after a second smiles at them. Silently, Leo puts a finger to his lips and winks at her. She turns back to the group.

After they leave, Leo swings himself over to Nico’s branch, and sits facing him. He smiles at the son of Hades and Nico smiles back. Leo leans in to kiss the tear tracks drying on his face before gently pressing their lips together again. He whispers softly, “I’m kissing you because I want to, Angel.”


	34. Ch. 30-Hazel

Hazel can’t stop thinking about Nico. But she finds that she’s more focused on his well being than whatever he and Leo might be doing. Honestly, she was surprised by the turn in their relationship. She’s simply left wondering about their safety.

So, after seeing the duo hiding, she decides to go to the tree that night anyway. Even if the others don’t come, she can make a plan with them and try to get it to Percy, Jason, and Annabeth. Once she’s certain the other tithes are asleep, Hazel gets up, not bothering to change since their sleeping clothes are almost identical to their day clothes, and silently races from the barracks.

Luckily, her sleeping quarters are right next to the woods. She only has to dash maybe a football field’s length, and there aren’t many guards around the tithes’ rooms since so few people can suspect the tithes of doing anything unholy or simply less perfect than society expects them to.

For that reason, Hazel easily makes her way into the woods by moonlight. Before she can get far, however, there comes a whisper, “Hazel?”

In the darkness she can see three shapes coming towards her, and she relaxes slowly when the moonlight glints off of Annabeth’s hair. Hazel whispers, “What are you doing here?”

“Leo said we were meeting tonight to make an escape plan.” Jason answers softly, “Just because they’re not here doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue with that.”

“They’re at the tree.” Hazel tells the trio, leading them down the beaten path.

“How do you know?” Jason asks, coming up to wrap his arm around her in a one arm hug.

“They were hiding there when we went earlier.” She answers, wrapping an arm around his waist, hiding her face in his chest.

“Are you okay?”

Hazel looks up at him, “I’m really happy about what happened. Leo makes Nico happy. That’s what’s important, not that they’re two guys kissing. It’s...not something I’m used to, but they make each other happy. Besides, we should have seen it coming. They have been sleeping in the same bed for several months.”

She lets go of him as they enter the clearing, to race over to where two figures sit together against the tree. Hazel drops to her knees, and throws her arms around both Nico and Leo. Nico laughs softly, hugging her back and pulling her close.

“Hey, Haze.” Leo laughs, hugging her along with Nico, “What are you guys doing?”

“We were under the impression that we’re plotting an escape tonight.” Annabeth answers, sitting down across from them.

The six of them create a circle, Nico half laying on top of Leo, and silences stretches between them. Part of Hazel is just content to watch them--how Leo would run his fingers through Nico’s hair while the son of Hades played with his hand--but mostly she’s worried about their safety. Not just here but they’re in a dream, and when they wake up whatever happens here they’ll have to deal with there.

“So...what are we going to do?” Percy finally asks.

“We know the camp is surrounded by electrical fences.” Jason points out.

“Which contain a guard tower around every hundred to two hundred yards.” Annabeth adds.

“And there are guards watching at all times except at night which part of me wants to bet they have video cameras rolling there just in case.”

“Plus several hundred other kids here.”

“We should give them the chance to get out.” Leo says softly.

Everybody except Nico turns to look at him, “What?”

“I think we should do something big, make a statement.” He answers, sitting up straighter against the tree trunk, “Which would also give the other teens here a chance to escape as well. I’m not saying we should stage a full revolt and get everybody out; just that we should create a situation where others could run as well.”

“We’re trying to fly under the radar.” Percy says softly, like he’s scared of hurting Leo’s feelings.

“And how has that been going for us, hu?” Nico points out, not moving. He keeps his gaze on Leo’s hand in his.

They fall into silence again. Percy takes Annabeth’s hand, and Hazel feels the ache of missing Frank stronger than she has this whole time. She has no clue what’s happened to him or where he is, and she knows Jason is worried about Piper for the same reason. Watching the two couples comforting each other only drives that in more. Hazel’s happy for them. She has to keep telling herself that.

“I have an idea.” Jason mutters after a while, “Percy, have you been able to do any of your water powers since waking up here?”

Percy shakes his head, “Dude, I couldn’t even more a little droplet this morning. I’m attracting water like a magnet, but I haven’t been able to do anything with it.”

“Let’s see if we can change that then.” Jason smiles mischievously. 


	35. Ch. 31-Jason

Jason stands behind Percy in the breakfast line the next morning, impatiently tapping the side of his leg and drumming his fingers on the food tray. He’s waiting. Waiting like a time bomb for the tanks of water to take over. Waiting for their chance at escape. And yet, it’s not coming. Annabeth and Hazel are already sitting at tables, picking at their food in order to avoid detection until their cue comes.

But it’s not coming. Everything is in place perfectly, and it’s not coming. The blond steps closer to his cousin to whisper to him, “What are you waiting for?”

“I’m trying.” Percy whispers back, “The water isn’t cooperating.”

Jason shuts up, letting him concentrate. But the water remains securely in it’s containments, paying Percy’s orders no attention. He thinks back to what Nico said about how he shadow traveled away with Leo during a thunderstorm then again before the son of Hephaestus could disappear into the Chop Shop, how Leo’s hand lit up when the airplane started descending, his own lightning strike at his time of fear on the operating table, Frank changing during the battle.

The blond turns around in fury, knocking the tray out of the hands of the girl behind him. He can feel Percy jump in shock, and the guards race at him. Jason lets his instincts take over as they run at him; he punches the first in the face as she reaches him before kneeing her stomach. The second, Jason whirls around to strike his elbow against the man’s temple. All around them, kids are screaming, racing to get away from the lunatic throwing punches which makes it hard for more guards to reach him.

Then comes the explosion. It rocks the building with more power than Jason expected. He turns, leaving the guards on the floor to get trampled by the fearful teens, to see Percy standing on the food counter with a mass of water swirling around him. It’s intimidating. Jason hears the zing of a tranq bullet racing through the air, but it’s met by a wall of ice before reaching its target.

Percy lets the water drop, flooding the floor before jumping down and grabbing Jason’s arm. Together, they run through the chaos in search of the girls.

“They’re at the door.” Jason calls when he catches sight of them. They run together out of the building and race after Annabeth and Hazel. The four reach the woods safely, but don’t stop running as they hit the path. They pound over the gravel.

Hazel reaches the tree first, calling loudly, “Nico! Leo!”

The duo steps out of the shadows on the far end of the clearing. Nico asks softly, “What happened? You’re late.”

“Percy couldn’t get it up.” Jason answers, leading the others around to the couple.

“Funny. Somehow, I always imagined he’d have that issue.” Leo mocks, starting toward the back fence with his arm around Nico’s shoulders.

“Jason punched a guard.” Percy shot back.

Nico laughs softly into his boyfriend’s side, “Sounds about right. He’s apparently really good at punching bitches here.”

“That’s harsh.” Hazel mutters as Jason wraps an arm around her waist with his other around Annabeth’s waist.

The trio rises up through the air, moving over the fense and landing safely in the green grass on the other side.

“Show off.” Nico muttered, grabbing Percy with his free hand and tugging his two boys into the shadows. They came out in the shadow of a great oak just a little ways away from the fense. Just in time as guards came racing through the trees on the other camp-side of the fense.

“Hazel, come on!” Nico calls as he takes her hand to rush away into the forest, into freedom. The trees are the only things that keep the six of them from getting tranqed.


	36. Ch. 32-Roberta

Roberta stands in front of the TV with her arms crossed over her chest. The TV shows a dark haired boy standing on the feeding counter of a Harvest Camp with water swirling all around him. Standing under him, the blond with purple and orange in his hair looks all too familiar which triggers the memory of a lightning strike.

“They’re back.” She mutters.

The guard turns to her, “Who are back?”

She moves away from the TV to look out into the other room through their two-way mirror. Sitting inside is a boy, tied down to the surgical chair. His dulled, emotionless brown eyes stare at her through the glass. She knows he can’t see her, but it certainly seems like he knows where to look. Around him, a doctor works with two nurses. Today, they’re working with the back of his head, poking and prodding his brainstem.

The boy’s shaved, but his head is covered in scars; the large, looping kind that covered big sections of his head. They’re harshly red with staples holding the parts of his scalp together. They started in the front of his brain; poking and prodding with no form change from him. No, the boy sits there, twitching when the doctor touched the right...well, wrong place. But they’re running out of places to check. After this one, they’ll have to actually dig into his brain to find what they need.

He’s angry, but people like him don’t matter--those destined to roam the world, unwanted and unloved, until somebody came around to put them out of their misery; unwinding. This boy will meet that soon enough; once they find what they need.

“The disturbance at Autumn Sun Harvest Camp in Arizona lead to over thirty teens escaping. While PD expects the collect the others quickly, these six should be considered armed and highly dangerous. Do not approach if spotted. Note their location and call the nearest police department.”

Roberta stays focused on the boy. But they can’t be back. Proactive Citizenry ensured that could never happening again. But now, they’re flooding harvest camps, causing lightning strikes inside buildings, teleporting, and...

In the other room, the boy changes. He sprouts wings--large, green, and reptilian--before the scales spread over the rest of his body. His eyes change so that they’re yellow with ovals of blackness inside. The bonds on his arms break as the dragon rears it’s head. One of the nurses acts quickly however, and grabs a tranq gun from where they keep it next to the surgery tools. After three shots aimed at his eye, the boy turns back into his usual, Chinese-Canadian teenager form.

“They’re back.” Roberta says again softly, “The demigods are back.”


	37. Part 5-Chop Shop

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love."

-Washington Irving

  
  


“When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge.”

-Arthur Conan Doyle

 

 


	38. Ch. 33-Frank

They take the limo all the way there. Piper seems relaxed in the setting but Frank doesn’t like it. The woman who introduced herself as Roberta rides in the back with them which he finds as odd. Maybe she just wants to keep an eye on the two of them to make sure they don’t try to escape.

After a while of silence, Frank leans over toward the adult, “Please, I can’t return there. He’ll...he’ll do it again.”

But she ignores him, preferring to turn to Piper, “You’re Cherokee, are you not?”

Piper keeps her eyes on him as she answers, “One fourth. My father’s high on the council. He’ll be worried about me.”

“We’ll have to make sure he’s contacted then.”

“Please, ma’am.” Frank begs, “Please, he’ll beat me senseless. I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t have too. Please don’t send me back.”

“which Cherokee land is he in?” Roberta’s ignoring him, and Frank can feel his anger rising.

Piper’s trying to tell him something but Frank can’t pick it up, “In Oklahoma.”

“Please, I’ll do anything not to return there.”

“Enough.” Roberta turns on him and Frank shuts up, “We know of the situation and you will not be returning there. Your father has been sent compensation. Now, get some rest. We’ll be there tomorrow afternoon.”

 

True to her words, they arrive at a large house on the edge of a lake. Frank doesn’t know where they are or what lake they’re on, but he assumes they’re close to the U.S.-Canadian border. He and Piper doesn’t get the chance to look around before getting pushed inside.

They’re led through the halls quickly, not given time to observe anything. Roberta holds a door open for them, ordering, “Get inside.”

As she closes the door behind them, Frank instinctively puts an arm around Piper. He was desperate for contact and apparently she was as well as she moves clover to him. Their hostess offers them a sweet smile, “You’ll stay here. The doors between your rooms will be locked at night but during the day you can move between them freely. Your meals will be brought to you.”

Before either of them can say anything, she leaves. Frank looks around the room which is large with fine furnishings and plenty of things to do and clothes to wear. He slowly walks further into the room before turning to Piper, “We’re prisoners.”

“No.” Piper shakes her head, sitting down on the bed, “We’re merchandise.”

“They’re still going to unwind us?” Frank sits next to her.

Piper lays her head on his shoulder, “Of course they are.”

After a while of silence, she mutters, “This isn’t how it was last time. Last time they put Jason and I into the same room that was small with only two beds and a computer.”

Her words cause a chill down Frank’s spine, “You’ve been here before?”

“Not here. Not this specific place. But...I was taken from the Rez by parts pirates. And they held me somewhere like this for a while before Jason showed up and we managed to escape.”

“You think this is the same group?

“The way Jason acted towards her, they had past interactions. He told me while on the run that a woman was there when the juvy cops picked him up.”

“You think it was her?” Frank asks, looking down at Piper’s eyes.

“I’m pretty damn certain.”

He swallows, “Guess we’re with the parts pirates then.”


	39. Ch. 34-Piper

Piper’s heart races almost as fast as her feet while she makes her way through the back alleys of Manhattan. She has a hold of somebody’s hand but she doesn’t dare look back to see who. Like Theseus, she worries that if she looks back, she’ll lose the person.

They keep running, away from sirens blaring and people screaming. A helicopter sounds overhead, and she ducks under a balcony to hide. The person with her is panting hard and she can’t blame him. Piper knows it’s a him although she can’t explain why. She doesn’t know which him, however, just that it’s a him.

She tugs him away again, through another dark alley and another, but the sounds just follow them. They continue running away from them, through the oddly abandoned alleys.

Piper stops as they pass an electronics store that has TVs in the windows, showing the news. It shows a helicopter view of the city, and she realizes it’s the one above them. While she can’t hear the newscaster, the images that flash on the screen are enough for her. Bodies, they’re everywhere in Time Square. What makes her stomach churn is the fact that she knows them. Nico’s sprawled out on the steps with his hand clutched to his chest, covered in blood, as his last few breaths sudden through his body. Not far away is Drew, the Stoll brothers, Nyssa, Annabeth. She chokes back a sob when she spots Frank with his head cracked open.

She starts running again, refusing to let go of the warm hand she holds. But she stops dead at the sound of a gunshot, and the other’s hand goes slack. Piper turns to see her best friend staggering. Leo coughs up blood, clutching at a hole in his chest. He looks at her panicked and coughs, “Piper, go.”

As much as she hates herself for it, she turns to run. Before she can get to the nearest corner, another shot sounds and she feels it hit her back.

  
Piper wakes up with a gasp, and curls up in the bed, sobbing.


	40. Ch. 35-Frank

After dinner their second evening there, Piper convinces Frank to play a game to get their minds off things. He had spent all day worrying about Hazel. It takes them a while to figure out how to play but once they get going, Frank finds himself focused on that.

It’s a war game, focused on protecting one unit while breaking through to the enemy’s. Frank finds that he’s actually very good at the game, and Piper proves to be some good competition. He’s so focused on it that he doesn’t notice when the door opens.

“Your presence has been requested.” The large body-builder man, probably a bouef, says, “Ms. McLean will go with my colleague, and Mr. Zhang must come with me.”

Neither wants to move, but after a few seconds they do; leaving the game board in it’s place. Instantly, they’re pulled apart and Frank only goes because the  guard’s pressing a thumb into the pressure point in his neck.

The son of Mars glances back at Piper, but she’s turned the corner. He looks up at the boeuf holding him and asks, “What will they do to us?”

“You won’t feel a thing.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

He doesn’t get an answer as he’s pulled down into a basement. Sitting on the tarp on the floor is a dentist’s chair with a head clamp attached. Several tolly tables are scattered around the room with scalpels, saws, pongs, and other medical instruments Frank doesn’t recognize. Hanging on one of the walls is a large, detailed diagram of a human brain.

That’s when Frank starts fighting; struggling despite the pain. But the guard’s bigger than him, and already has a hold of Frank’s pressure point, delivering a harsh bruise. He manages to wrestle Frank into the chair and three other people come from nowhere to help secure his limbs.

Frank screams his lungs out, struggling against the leather bindings. Hands grab his shoulders, forcing him back against the headrest while somebody else wraps the strip of velcro around his forehead just above his eyes.

The guard leans down in front of him, “Go ahead and scream all you want. Nobody can hear you.”

Glaring at him, Frank screams again. The sound echoes around the room deafeningly which causes his ears to ring. Before he knows it, he was screaming into a cloth wrapped around his face and over his mouth. Still, Frank fights; struggling against his bonds and screaming with all his might.

He can just barely hear one of the doctors saying, “We can’t operate on him while he’s moving like that.”

And another responses with, “The anesthetic has mild tranq admissions in it which will help calm him down. Just administer the shot.”

Frank feels the needle pressing into his upper arm, and it hits him almost instantly. His fingers don’t want to move, then his arms and legs. All pain dies away, and he’s left only with the ability to blink voluntarily. It’s an odd sensation, but mostly it pisses him off. The anger bubbles up inside of him, making his eyes sting.

“There you go.” A female voice says soothingly, “That’s much better now, isn’t it?”

He opens his mouth to respond, but no words come out to get muffled by the gag. Frank can’t even issue a growl.

A doctor in a white lab coat comes into view, standing in front of him with an electric razor. That at least is a familiar object, but in this setting it makes Frank’s stomach drop for he can imagine what they can do with that. The buzzing starts up, and suddenly he can feel the blades on his scalp. He didn’t have much hair to begin with here, but it had grown out some during their time hiding. In a matter of minutes, every black curl lays on the floor around him.

Next the doctor takes a surgical pencil, and Frank can feel the pressure of it against his forehead just above the band strapping his back. It then moves up, along his temples to come to an arch about a third of the way back along his head.

If he’s being honest with himself, Frank knows what’s coming. But he’s not being honest with himself. He’s not admitting that they would do such a thing to him. There’s no way they would toy with him like that, making him into a play thing to poke and prod at until satisfied at which point he’ll go under the knife and never come out. His existence can’t be that pointless. But as the doctor before him picks up a circular saw, Frank can’t keep denying what’s happening.

He doesn’t actually feel pain, probably due to the shot. There’s a pressure along the line drawn on him, and he can feel his skin splitting open. Then comes a harsher sound that makes his ears ring, and cloud of white powder comes raining down in front of his face which makes Frank cough as it slips into his nose. He feels a rough vibrating sensation taking over his skull, making it shake. It feels like the pounding of loud music shaking through his mind. A chill comes over his brain as the clattering of bone on medal comes from his left.

Then comes the pain. It’s not a physical pain, but a kind of haunting pain like remembering an injury. Whiffs of the flowers from his grandmother’s garden infiltrate his mind. As they move, he gets that sick feeling in his stomach that Hazel always seems to erect, then the sorrow of his mom’s death, and fear. A strong, unidentified fear that sends a chill down his spine and makes him feel like retreating into a dark shadow to avoid the badness coming at him. But he can’t. Frank can’t move, and as a result, he’s left screaming while feeling tears streaming down his face.

 

The stitches are itchy as Frank settles himself in the back corner of his room, curled up against the end of the bed. He’s still crying. He hasn’t stopped crying since they struck that spot. All through the rest of the operation and the dazed walk back upstairs, he cried silently. Once in the room alone, however, Frank broke down.

That fear remains, creeping into the edges of his consciousness. He curls up as tightly as he could wedged between the bed and the wall as sobs overcome him. Frank struggles to keep them quiet, but mostly fails. He hates hearing the sounds echoing around the room, echoing around his own violated head. The worse part is that he doesn’t know where these tears came from. He doesn’t know if they’re a reaction to the surgery itself, the entire situation of containment, missing Hazel, or the spot they poked. In either case, they come, taking him over.

Not too long after he gets returned to the room, the door next to his opens and closes. A few seconds later, the connecting door opens, and he can barely see Piper coming in. He gasps for breath, but nothing wants to come. She walks over to him slowly and sits across from him. Piper can see the scar, and doesn’t bother asking what happened. She just moves closer, and lets him cry into her shoulder.


	41. Ch. 36-Piper

Piper watches Frank until they turn the corner then turns back to her guard, “What’s happening?”

“They just want to talk to you.” She answers squarely.

“And Frank?”

The guard takes a minute to respond, “That’s of no concern to you.”

“So, no.” Piper assumes. She continues to worry about her in the forefront of his mind. Mostly, she worries that when she’s escorted back to their joined rooms, his will be empty.

He leads her into a plush office with a desk and lush armchairs. Sitting in one of them is a young man dressed in a fine suit. He’s an attractive young man with soft blue eyes and shining blond hair, but Piper can’t bring herself to focus on him for he looks took much like Jason and she can’t bare the idea of Jason condemning her.

“Ms. McLean, please sit.” At least he doesn’t sound like Jason.

She sits carefully as the guard leaves. The chair is warm, embracing her like a lovable hug.

“Come now, Ms. McLean, I’m not here to hurt you. We just need some questions answered.”

The daughter of Aphrodite keeps her gaze on the fluffy cream carpet for if she remains there, he chest won’t ache from missing her blond. Even with all the piercings and colors, Jason is still her blond. Nothing is going to change that, even is psycho bitch wants his eyes.

“We just want to know what happened last time, with the Grace boy.”

“Jason. His name is Jason.” She mutters.

“Yes, well, Jason was involved in quite the incident surrounding his escape.”

The lightning, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But she does. Jason told her exactly what happened; he caused a lightning strike out of fear that allowed them time to escape.

“I’m sure you can understand why we have a hard time believing that.” He says, “He took time out of his escape to go get you despite only having known you for an hour or two. You’re very pretty, but that’s a bit extensive. Plus, you were found with him.”

“I don’t know.” Piper sighs, “Maybe you should ask him.”

“You know why I can’t do that.”

“Because Jason has an order form so you can’t bring him to the monster house by the water.”

They go back and forth for a while before Piper gets escorted out. She’s locked up again in that royal room. After a few seconds of standing there, looking down at the game she’s worried they’ll never finish, she hears a soft sound coming from Frank’s room. Piper races over to the door, desperate to see him again. But when she opens the door, her heart sinks.

He’s pressed into the corner, crying. Piper can see that his hair’s gone but what bothers her more is the glaring scar stretching a third of the way back along his head with staples that glint in the light.

Piper slowly makes her way over to him and sits down. After a minute, she reaches out and pulls him close so that his head is cradled on her shoulder. She lets him cry himself out before asking softly, “You...want to finish kicking my ass?”

Frank wipes the tears from his cheeks, and nods, “Yeah, lets go.”

Before long, they’re sitting at the board. Frank seems completely focused on the game, quickly moving his pieces to engage in perfectly timed combat. After a little while, once her defeat is imminent, Piper asks, “You want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” He mutters in response, “I’m guessing you figured out what happened.”

Piper has but there’s one clarification she needs, “Did they take something out or put something in?”

“Neither. Just poked around.”

Piper stops mid-move, holding her piece in the air, “They just...poked around?”

He nods.

“Looking for something?”

“I don’t know. Guess we’ll see.”

Piper completes her move, and instantly Frank moves his piece to capture her flag.


	42. Ch. 37-Frank

The second surgery makes Frank’s limbs twitch. The third and fourth cause him to go deaf for a few hours in opposing ears. The fifth causes sunbursts in his eyes.

He hates the. Frank hates all of them. But somewhere during the third or fourth, he breaks. The anger remains, but they sap the fight right out of him, leaving him placid. Piper notices, they all notice, but she’s the only one there to try to keep him together.

Frank feels bad relying on her for so much, but she seems to enjoy helping him cope. She told him that it helps her focus on something other than her own daily conferences. Piper does go every day while Frank’s torture ensues weekly to give the scars healing time.

 

By week six, there’s nothing left in him. Frank feels as though he’s been hollowed out, getting unwound from the inside out.

They come for him after Piper has already left, and he goes. The guard doesn’t even have to hold him. Once the leather straps are secured around his wrists and ankles, Frank closes his eyes. He doesn’t feel like looking at his own essence. This time, they tilt his head down, setting it in place with a clamp on either side of his head.

The sting of the needle comes to the very base of his skull. Before long, the buzzing starts out, a dull pressure comes and moves in a square along the base of his head and half way down his neck. It doesn’t hurt exactly but there’s a physical [art of him missing now. He’s cold inside.

He doesn’t cry. Frank’s used to it at this point; the numbness, the invasiveness, the pure inhumanity of the act. But they don’t think of him as human anyway, so why treat him like a human?

As the chilly metal starts prodding the top of his brain stem, Frank opens his eyes to glance up at the diagram directly across from him. On the way to his last surgery, Frank had noticed a door leading into a room with a large window. He assumes that Roberta’s in there, watching him. Frank keeps his gaze there as the chill moves down the line. He follows it on the diagram; the cerebellum, down along the medulla, inching closer and closer to his spinal cord.

The moment they find it, he knows. He can feel the pressure on his shoulder blades building until the wings burst out, camped against the chair painfully. Lines of scales spread along his skin as his skin as his body grows. The bonds break as the chair flattens. He can hear the doctors scrambling, but Frank doesn’t get any satisfaction from it for they did this. He can only assume that’s what they were looking for.

He can barely hear the glass shattering as he roars in agony. This feels like the end. They’ve been searching now for six weeks instead of just getting the unwinding over with. He knows they must have been looking for something. They’ve covered every piece of the outside of his brain now. If this isn’t it, he doesn’t know what they could want.

The first strike makes him scream. The bullet hits his left eye and he turns on the doctors. Each of them have a gun pointed at him. The bullets fly harmlessly off his scales, but one’s a good shot. A second bullet hits his eye, then a third. The darkness creeps over him slowly, and his roars get weaker. It’s the fourth shot that brings him crashing down. Frank can feel his body morphing back into it’s usual human shape as the blackness pulls him under into the welcoming state of unconsciousness.

 

Frank wakes up on his bed. His brain feels fuzzy and the new staples in the back of his head burn. It takes a while for him to regain muscle movement. Once he can move, his hand goes to his bare chest where Frank can feel two large rectangular burns.

He hears the door to the other room open and close. Less than a minute later, the door between their rooms opens and Piper steps in, “Frank?”

Frank turns to look at her, but doesn’t say anything.

“What happened?” Piper asks, moving over to his bed.

“They tranqed me.” He answers weakly.

She sits on the edge of the bed, “Why?”

Frank coughs, “They found the spot in my brain that allows me to morph. I turned into a dragon. They had to shoot me four times in the eye to get me down.”

“Guess that’s why your eye’s all bloodshot, hu?”

“Guess so.” He answers softly.

After a minute, she lays down next to him and asks, “Is that what they’ve been looking for?”

“I don’t know.”

They call into silence for a while before Piper stands, “Do you want to finish our game?”

Frank shrugs but stands, “Not really.”

“Come on. It’ll get your mind off things.”

“Need to put a new shirt on.” He mutters, looking down at himself and the torn open shirt he’s wearing.

She looks at his chest as well, probably noticing the burns as well, “That would be good. Looks like they gave you too much.”

Frank goes over to the dresser, pulling a shirt on. He doesn’t bother answering. They head into Piper’s room together, and sit down at the board. But neither makes a move.

After a minute, he asks, “Why are we here?”

“I don’t know.”

He shakes his head, “I mean, why are we still here? Why aren’t we even trying to escape?”

Before Piper can respond, the door opens and their dinner comes in. The man who pushes it inside offers them a charming smile, and doesn’t lock the door. He always brings their food and is the nicest worker they’ve interacted with. The man treats them like people, chatting with them while they eat and making sure they’ve got everything they need.

Piper stands and offers him a sweet smile, “It’s very nice of you to be serving us like this.”

The man falters as Piper steps closer to him, “It...It’s my job.”

She flips her hair over her shoulder, “Still, most people wouldn’t pay use useless unwinds with as much kindness. I only wish we could step outside, just for a few minutes. My skin is losing it’s coloring.”

Her words tug at both of the males. Even Frank feels drawn to break her out of here for a tanning session.

“I-” He shakes his head, “I guess I could take you out...just for a few minutes.”

Piper smiles before turning to Frank, “Come on, don’t you want to go outside?”

Slowly, Frank stands, “Sure, lets go.”


	43. Ch. 38-Piper

Piper feels bad for charming the server. He really had been good to them; bringing them extra food, making sure Frank has his pain meds, checking up on them during the day. Besides him, they only see a couple guards and the doctors.

But Frank’s right; they’ve been letting this happen. There’s been no fighting or attempts to escape. Well, she’s changing that.

Nobody questions them as they are led outside. The sunlight really does feel good on her skin, and Piper laughs when they reach it. Frank smiles as she twirls around.

They’d gotten to know each other over the weeks. Suddenly, he wasn’t just Hazel’s boyfriend. Frank is a person with a past and a future, and interests, and hopes. He’s a boy in love. Piper can tell with the way he talks about Hazel, and the dreamy look in his eyes. He’d talk about a life with her.

But he’s gotten so off. They’ve been torturing him, and it makes Piper angry that they’d do that to such a pure soul.

She stops twirling to gaze at the large gates on the edge of the estate, “I wonder, what’s out there?”

“Nothing of interest.” The man agrees, “Just Lake Erie.”

“Lake Erie?” She squeals, “I adore Lake Erie!”

Frank moves over to her, whispering, “What are you doing?”

“Hopefully, getting us out.” She whispers back before turning to their savior, “Could we go to the gate, pretty please? I just love the lake. I’d give anything to be able to see it just once more before I get divided.”

That makes the man uncomfortable, but he nods, “I don’t see any harm in that.”

Piper races down that path, pulling Frank behind her. When they reach the gate, she’s move focused on that than the beautiful view. She’s relieved to find the bars are far apart and not electrocuted, “Do you think you can squeeze through?”

He looks at her for a second before turning back to the gate. Frank reaches his arm through, up to his collar bone. It seems a little tight but he nods anyway, “Barely. What are you thinking?”

Piper can hear the man running up behind them, so she answers quickly, “Go through.”

“Piper?”

“We’re getting out, just go through.”

Frank glances back at the server before quickly squeezing through. In a matter of seconds, he is on the other side, and Piper steps through easily. They casually start strolling away, trying to avoid attention. Piper really feels bad about leaving their server with this over his head, but they have to get out of there.

“Wait.” He calls and Piper stops to glance back at him.

Frank tugs at her arm, “Piper, come on.”

But she doesn’t, “We don’t mean to get you in trouble, but we aren’t about to lay down and get unwound so that your boss lady can feel accomplished.”

The man looks at her for a minute before stating simply, “I can get you a ride back to the states.”


	44. Part. 6-Runaway

Studies Have Shown That:

  * One in seven young people between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away>

  * Youth age 12 to 17 are more at risk of homelessness than adults

  * 75 percent of runaways are female

  * Between 20 and 40 percent of homeless youth identify as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning (GLBTQ)

  * 46 percent of runaway and homeless youth reported being physically abused, 38 percent reported being emotionally abused , and 17 percent reported being forced into unwanted sexual activity by a family or household member

  * 75 percent percent of homeless or runaway youth have dropped out or will drop out of school




 

Consequences of Life on the Street for Homeless and Runaway Youth:

  * Increased likelihood of high-risk behaviors, including engaging in unprotected sex, having multiple sex partners and participating in intravenous drug use.  Youth who engage in these high-risk behaviors are more likely to remain homeless and be more resistant to change.

  * Greater risk of severe anxiety and depression, suicide, poor health and nutrition, and low self-esteem.

  * Increased likelihood of exchanging sex for food, clothing and shelter ( also known as "survival sex") or dealing drugs to meet basic needs. Forty percent of African American youth and 36 percent of Caucasian youth who experienced homelessness or life on the street sold drugs, primarily marijuana, for money.

  * Difficulty attending school due to lack of required enrollment records (such as immunization and medical records and proof of residence) as well as lack of access to transportation to and from school.  As a result, homeless youth often have a hard time getting an education and supporting themselves financially.

  * Homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning (GLBTQ) youth are more likely to exchange sex for housing or shelter, are abused more often at homeless shelters (especially adult shelters), and experience more violence on the streets than homeless heterosexual youth.




Source: http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/homeless-and-runaway-youth.aspx


	45. Ch. 39-Nico

Nico leads them into the darkest corner of the graveyard before flopping down under a large oak tree. After shadow traveling and then running so far, he’s exhausted. He doesn’t want to rest, they need to keep moving, but he can see Jason’s exhaustion as well so he doesn’t feel too bad about needing to stop.

“We should be able to rest here for a little while.” Annabeth says as they all crash down onto the grass.

Leo instantly pulls Nico into his lap, cuddling him close. Feeling those warm arms wrapped around him, and his boyfriend’s solid chest against his side, Nico relaxes. He loves having Leo holding him like this; it makes him feel safe, and warm, and happy like he hasn’t felt in years.

“We should figure out a plan.” Percy suggests, laying back on the ground.

“Keep moving.” Hazel suggests, her white clothes covered in mud.

Nico coughs into Leo’s shoulder before asking, “Heading where?”

“We can head to Camp Half Blood.” Jason suggests, “I mean, even if the camp isn’t there, the land can’t have disappeared.”

“Sounds good. But lets rest. We can take turns on watch.”

“I’ll take it first. You all rest.” Annabeth answers, and Hazel says she’ll stay up as well.

Leo lays down, cuddling Nico close. The son of Hades turns around, burying his face in Leo’s shirt, clutching at it.

“It’s okay, Nico. We’re away. Nobody’s getting unwound, okay?” He whispers softly, petting Nico’s hair.

“I know. You promised.”


	46. Ch. 40-Piper

He does get them a ride, to the board. Still, it’s better than nothing. They get back into the U.S. around dawn, and the driver leaves them on the side of the road.

After a minute of silence, Frank asks, “Should we travel by day or night?”

“Day?” She’s completely guessing, “I mean, we look like average teens. I don’t think we’ll be questioned. It’ll look more suspicious if we’re need at night.”

He sighs, “True.”

That makes Piper feel bad. Neither of them have done much physically in the past six weeks so neither of them will last very long on a walk. But Frank has more crippling him. She can feel the depression rolling off of him, and Piper really doesn’t know what to do. If it wasn’t for the Romen blood in him, she feels certain Frank would have given up by this point.

“We might be able to take a bus or train.” She offers.

“No money.”

“Cute. There are other ways to get things.” Piper starts talking along the road. After a slight hesitation, she hears Frank following. They walk for a while before reaching a town. It’s small, but that suits Piper better. She pauses on the edge of town, “Stay here. I’m going to get us food and travel means.”

“Are you sure that’s safe?” He asks shyly.

Piper sighs, “No, but you’ll catch more attention. If they know there’s a parts pirate’s shop not too far across the border, you’ll attract more attention.”

Reluctantly, Frank nods, “Okay, I’ll just stay here then.”

He sits down against a streetlight, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Piper nods, smiling at him slightly, “Just don’t fall asleep.”

Piper heads out, first to find food. She ends up stopping at a grocery store that looks like nobody’s shopped there in years. But the lights are on, and when she walks in a bored looking teenaged male greets her with a dull, “Welcome to Quickie Mart, for all your quick shopping needs. Please feel free to ask if you need any assistance.”

She smiles at him sweetly, “I’d like to know where I can find some non-perishable foods for travel.”

The boy looks around, probably double checking that she’s the only customer, before nodding, “Sure, miss, I can show you where those might be.”

He leads her through the store that’s empty. The lights flicker every now and then, and it’s covered in dirt. But Piper doesn’t mind. That just means there’s nobody to see her. There’s no threat, at least a minimal one. She can take this scrawny kid down in no time if she needs to.

She talks the whole time, offering him flattery and pleasantries. Mostly, Piper’s working him. She’s not sure if she’s charmspeaking or not, but she knows she’s going to need him in a good mood. After all, she’s asking him for free food.

 

Piper’s never sure how she makes it out of there with a bag full of non-perishables, and a backpack without paying a cent. She heads back towards where she left Frank. From the corner, she can see he isn’t there. But a cop car is.

She stops breathing, silently searching for a sign of him in the back of the car, but she can’t see him. It takes her a few seconds to realize a cat is rubbing itself against her legs. She looks down at the kitten, pure black and looking up at her with such intelligence like he wants her to follow.

The kitten then disappears down an alleyway. Slowly, Piper follows before the cops can see her. As she turns the corner, a flood of relief fills her because Frank stands there, looking nervously over his shoulder.

“What happens?” She asks in a whisper.

He looks at her, “They showed up and I panicked.”

“So, a kitten?”

“We’re still here, aren’t we?” Frank’s defensive, and Piper can tell he’s sensitive about the thing. It was probably the first animal to come to his mind, and she can’t hold that against him. The kitten was cute.

Piper nods, glancing back at the alley entrance, “Turn back. I’ll use you as an excuse for why I’m out so early and walk past, pretending that I was sent to buy groceries by my mom and my cat got out when I returned home so I was hunting you down.”

And it goes off perfectly as she planned it. Frank’s grumpy attitude about being forced back into kitten form only helping to get them safely past the cops.


	47. Ch.41-Hazel

Hazel’s exhausted, but she’s not about to let it show. Instead, she focuses on putting one foot directly in front of the other, using the rail of the train track like a balance beam. She misses Frank, she misses that feeling she gets in her stomach when he smiles at her, she misses those times when they’d just hug each other for what felt like hours.

She sighs and rushes forward to grab onto Nico’s hand, and swinging them playfully, “You look so sad without sexy boyfriend to hold your hand.”

Nico glances at her, offering a small smile, “It’s not him. I don’t handle the heat and exercise very well.” His eyes flick back to where Leo’s talking with Jason, “Course, having Leo closer would help.”

“He really adores you.” Hazel mutters softly, “I heard him talking in his sleep last night.”

She can’t tell if he’s paled more or not, “H-he was talking about me?”

“Well, “porcelain skin” “soft lips” “cuddly monkey”. I don’t know who else he could have been talking about.” Hazel giggles.

Nico smiles happily, swinging their hands more. He has a dreamy look in his eyes, far away like he used to get while thinking about Bianca. But this isn’t about her. Nico’s thinking about Leo. No, he’s thinking about his boyfriend who talked about him in his sleep, probably has dreams about him. The boyfriend who cuddles him, and looks out for him--making sure they stop regularly where there’s some shade so Nico can cool down.

“You really like him.” She states, “This isn’t just being lonely. You’ve fallen for him.”

Nico looks over at her, “Of course I really like him. Leo...well, he’s Leo. He’s a big sweetheart puppy who just wants love. I don’t know about love yet. But, I can give him plenty of affection, and he looks out for me. That’s not something I’ve had for a while, and I forgot how nice that was.”

She’s about to say something, but he finally asks the question that’s obviously been on his mind for the past several days, “Does it bother you?”

Hazel takes a minute to answer, wanting to make sure she phrases her words right, “Nico, you’re happy. This is the happiest I’ve ever seen you. Even with everything going on, Leo’s making you happy. As your sister, I want you to be happy. If Leo can do that, than I can’t really complain. I am going to need some time to get used to this, but as long as you’re happy it’s okay. But if Leo ever hurts you, I will end him.”

Nico smiles and kisses her cheek, “Good, because I’ll probably need your help with that.”

She laughs softly. Hazel loves when her brother gets affectionate. She can’t help comparing him to a lost kitten; as soon as a person is nice to Nico, he’ll latch onto them and do anything for them. Nico could easily get attached to people, and the more comfortable with them he got the more attention and affection he’d give them. Hades, he’d hugged Jason after they escaped from the Harvest Camp.

“We’re going to find him.” Nico promises, and Hazel realizes she’s been silent for too long.

She turns to look at him, “Find who?”

“Frank. Sorry, I figured you were thinking about him. I mean, I know you miss him. I’d be missing Leo if we were separated.”

“I...” Hazel sighs, looking down at their hands, “Yeah, I miss him. I hope he and Piper are alright. You said he seemed really panicked about going back to his house.”

Nico nods, “I didn’t get much about why. He was scared, and that’s all I know. But he and Piper didn’t have order forms. At least Leo and Jason say Piper doesn’t which makes me think Frank doesn’t. So...they can’t be unwound.”

“Not legally.”

Before Nico can try to comfort her, he has arms wrapped around his shoulders and a son of Hephaestus kissing his cheek, “How are you doing? Do you need to rest?”

Nico smiles slightly, “I’m okay for a little while, Valdez. I’m not a flower.”

Leo sighs and brings Nico’s head around with a hand under his cheek so he can kiss the boy’s lips lightly, “You look like you need a rest.”

Slowly, the son of Hades nods. It’s rather impressive how fast Leo can find some shade for them. The six of them end up huddled together in a switch shed that’s relatively cool. Nico ends up laying with his head in Leo’s lap with Hazel curled up against his side.


	48. Ch. 42-Jason

They bunker down in a barn somewhere in Ohio before sending Nico and Leo out for food. Annabeth manages to start a fire using hay and wood scraps. The four of them settle down around it, and Percy lays his head in Annabeth’s lap.

Jason can tell there’s something going on with him. Percy’s been talking less, eating less, probably sleeping less. Jason has to wonder if this place is finally getting to him or if moving around is reminding him of his time questing.

They rest in silence for a while, just watching the flames, until the door creaks open. Jason’s expecting Nico and Leo with dinner, but what enters is a dog, a golden retriever pup. It’s eyes darken for a second before lighting up. After offering them a squeak of a bark, it scampers over and hops into Hazel’s lap, resting it’s front paws on her shoulders to lick her face.

A girl’s voice calls before she follows the pup inside, “Frank!”

The sight of her makes Jason's heart stop before thundering along like he’d just won a battle. Her hair’s grown longer but it’s still toughly cut, and her kaleidoscope eyes sparkle brightly at the sight of them. Before she can say anything, Jason stands up and pulls her close with an arm around her waist.

Piper chuckles softly and wraps her arms around his neck as Jason hide his face in her shoulder, “I missed you too, Superman.”

The pup, Frank, barks happily and curls up in his girlfriend’s lap. Jason’s missed her smell, that one that’s so uniquely Piper. After a few minutes, she mutters, “Jason, you need to let for if we’re going to sit down.”

“Right, sorry.” He mutters, letting go of her. Piper smiles at him sweetly before gently pressing their lips together. It feels like he can’t breathe. He almost forgot how soft her lips arm or the way they ever so slightly part at the feeling of his on them.

There comes a wolf whistle from the entrance and Jason pulls back to see Leo laughing at them. Nico’s smiling from behind him, but he’s more focused on the golden retriever Hazel’s cuddling and kissing. Piper seems relieved to see them, like she’d been about to ask what happened to them or she’d already been imagining their tombstones.

The latino comes over and wraps an arm around each of their shoulders, “Oh, there’s my favorite lovebirds united again. This is great, really. Jason’s pouting was starting to get me down and you know how hard that is.”

“Especially lately.” Jason chuckles, “With your pretty boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” Piper asks, turning to Leo before her eyes shift to Nico still standing by the entrance with the bags of food in his hands. Over in Hazel’s lap, Frank’s ears perk up and he turns to look at them.

Leo smiles mischievously, slowly creeping back over to the son of Hades, “Yes, Piper, boyfriend. Is that so hard to believe?”

The boy in question seems to notice the red flag Leo’s putting up, and brushes past them to set the food down in their little campsite, “Good thing we got food for a couple days then.”

As he sits next to Hazel, Frank moves over to his lap and puts his paws up on Nico’s shoulder to look at him curiously. The son of Hades smiles brightly, and scratches the pup between his ears, “Yes, I really am with Valdez.”

Frank barks happily and licks Nico’s cheek. Smiling, he wiped the puppy drool from his cheek, “Yeah, thanks for that.”

He moves back to Hazel’s lap as Leo comes to sit next to Nico, pulling his Ghost King close. Piper settles herself in Jason’s lap, and he doesn’t complain as he wraps his arms around her. This is what they’re supposed to be like. The missing pieces aren’t missing anymore, and Jason can’t stop himself from smiling.

Piper explains what happened to them, with the occasional very unhelpful barks from Frank, while they all eat. Her story does explain why he’s sticking to puppy form, that kind of visual damage would be very noticeable here. It’s safer as a puppy.

They take turns explaining what happened at the Harvest Camp, including Nico and Leo finally proclaiming their affection for each other that everybody already known about anyway. The stories put a damper on their reunion as there’s no good news in either beyond they’re not unwound.

After a minute of silence, Piper states, “Proactive Citizenry is running the Parts Pirates ring. They’re the cause of all this.”

Percy shakes his head bitterly, “But we can’t exactly do anything about it.”

“We can’t if we don’t try.” Hazel answers, “Maybe we can’t. Maybe whatever we do will flunk, but we can’t exactly sit around and do nothing. If we’re going to get out of this place, we have to do something. We may as well try, because if we don’t try anything we’ll be stuck here forever.”

They all look at her for a minute, before nodding. Jason smiles, “She’s right, we have to try something.”


	49. Ch.43-Percy

Percy insisted on going out alone to get the food, but now he’s regretting that decision. He’s never been good at stealing things, and he’s tried. If Piper'd been with them, she could have just asked for the food and she’d have gotten it. But not Percy.

He’d been doing good, or so he thought, until it came to actually leaving the store. He put the food into a dirty old backpack they’d found in one of the switch houses they stayed at, and was walking casually towards the exit with a cell phone in his hand, pretending to type. What he hadn’t taken into account was the metal detector like things at the door. As soon as he passed through them, they started beeping.

Percy made a break for it, running out of the store and down the street towards the woods where the others were hiding. Apparently, modern theft detectors automatically called the police because a squad car pulled up in front of him and two cops jumped out.

Now, he’s locked up in an interrogation room with his hands cuffed behind him and no way to move. They’re leaving him to fester here, probably running his info but that shouldn’t be taking this long so Percy figures they want him to stew. But Percy is no good at stewing.

He’d requested a water cup and they brought him one, laughing all the time about how he wouldn’t be able to hold it with his hands cuffed behind his back. But Percy didn’t need to hold it. The water is attracted to him, moving for him like a magnet.

The hard part comes when he has to solidify it; something he’s never tried before. He’s never needed ice before. Percy does his best to keep a straight face as he focuses. He puts every ounce of concentration he can get--a surprisingly large amount for having ADHD--and after what seems like forever, he has a piece of solid ice large and thin enough to slip into the keyhole of the of his handcuffs.

Percy’s left praying that he remembers what the Stolls taught him about how to pick locks. That seems to take even longer and he has to focus on not breaking the ice, but finally he feels the cuffs click open. After that, Percy relaxes. Turns out all the meditation Thalia insisted they do in the Graveyard was paying off because with each step, it was getting easier to concentrate.

He kept the cuffs on his wrists, and closed his eyes like he was bored. Percy can sense the plumbing. It’s all around him, racing through pipes in the walls. He thought they might have done away with in-the-wall plumbing in this time but apparently not. That’s a relief, however. He sit’s there, twiddling this thumbs as he listens to it gurgling around in the pipes.

Finally, an officer enters, and he’s again relieved since it’s only one. In theory, his plan could work with two, but one is much easier to confuse. The man plops down across from Percy, “Do you know why you’re here, kid?”

Percy doesn’t answer, but he’s opened his eyes to look at the man like he was bored.

“Yes, yes. The sooner you answer our questions, Mr. Jackson, the sooner you’ll be on a bus to the harvest camp.”

“That’s a real incentive.” The demigod mutters, just loud enough for the officer to hear. He then stated louder, “Do you honestly think I want to go back to the harvest camp? That I broke out, and traveled hundreds of miles on foot just to go to a different harvest camp?”

“I take it you won’t be cooperative, then.” It doesn’t come out as a question, but Percy decides to treat it as such.

“No, I won’t.” Percy states matter-of-factly, leaving no room for argument, “I’ll show you a magic trick though.”

He can feel the water all around him, the water rushing through this cop’s body, the water in the ground not far under his feet. As always, he’s surrounded by it, and this time he doesn’t need Jason to punch somebody for him to access it. Already, Percy can feel the water aching to get closer to him, and any minute the pressure will burst.

Despite his words, the cop presses on, “We’re willing to offer you a deal. We know you escaped with five others. If you tell us where they are-”

“You’ll what?” He spits out, “You’ll let me go? No way. I’m nothing more than money to the government. You’ll race me through my unwinding? Make it fast, give me no chance to escape, no chance to make them look like fools again. If I told you were they are, you’ll race me off to the nearest Chop Shop, and I’ll be unwound by dinner time. There’s nothing you can say to me that will change what’s going to happen.”

His bantering partner partner takes the bait, “And what’s going to happen?”

Percy leans back hauntly, managing a tiny smirk as the handcuffs drop to the floor which makes a loud noise like a gunshot in the silent room. The release from the chilly metal fills him with relief, and causes a look of shock crosses the cop’s face. He sets his hands flat on the table, and leans forward to whisper, “A flood.”

The tugging in his gut makes Percy groan in pain. He’d forgotten the feeling, but the wetness by his shoes (which are developing holes) makes him relax. The building’s plumbing explodes, causing breaks in the drywall, and the force has his cop on the floor, sputtering.

Percy stands calmly, walking through the ankle deep water that doesn’t hinder him. He doesn’t bother giving the cop another glance as he makes his way to the door and pulls it open. More water rushes in, but it doesn’t bother you. This is Percy’s element, Percy’s love, Percy’s friend. It parts to let him through.

He stalks through the police office, past the panicked officers who don’t even bother him. The water’s rising, almost to his knees now, and it’s rushing from every room and every wall. Percy’s at the front door before they seem to realize he’s escaping. Shouts start up, and he yanks the door open. Water rushes out, but Percy’s right in front of it, racing down the street in sloshy shoes.

There’s no way he can go back to the others now, he can hears cops racing after him. He turns down an alley, and then another with no idea where he’s going. Percy just runs through back alleys until he sees his break; woods. They don’t look exactly the same as the ones he knows the others are hiding in, and figures these are the other side of the city.

Percy rushes through them for a while, but he can tell he still has a trail; two, maybe three cops. He stops in a clearing with, and figures he has thirty seconds at most. After a split second decision, he reaches up and takes a hold of the lowest tree branch. Within seconds, Percy’s nestled in the tree’s branches, sure he’s invisible as he can’t see them down below.

Three sets of feet stop in the clearing below him, where his trail runs dry. His heart pounds in his ears, and Percy tries not to breathe as he hears the three voices below arguing about what to do. They can’t seem to decide, and he closes his eyes. The branch is small, too small for him to rest on for a long period of time. He struggles to keep his feet on the tiny branch, his back pressed against the trunk, and his hands clutching at the branch above him.

He manages to stay there for ten minutes before his right ankle gives out. The leaves lightly brush the bottom of his shoe, and Percy yanks it back up. Water drops from him, falling down to hit leaves of a bush down below him. The cops stalk over to it, and Percy’s heart stops dead. After more muffled voices, he hears two sets of feet head off away from the city, and the third back towards the city.

Percy stays silent, muscles aching, and mind reeling in search of an explanation of what just happened. He comes to the conclusion they were going for back up. It’s time to get away.

As silently as possible, Percy drops to the ground, and looks around. He knows which direction the city is and which way the cops went as well as which way they’re all heading. That leaves only one way, which he prays is his way to the others. Percy starts that direction, being as silent as he can manage and limiting the signs of his being there.

Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes.

Then he hears somebody up ahead, and Percy’s heart jumps. He questions if he miscalculated, if the cops are going to step through the brush and snatch him up to carry his right back to a harvest camp. Without time to climb, he steps behind a tree, pressing his back against the trunk and closes his eyes in preparation for the end.

Nobody grabs him, and after a minute Percy opens his eyes to look down at the puppy blinking up at him. He whispers, barely more than a breath in the stillness, “Frank?”

The pup growls softly, bowing it’s head to scratch one of it’s ears.

Percy takes that as a yes, and crouches, “Where are the others? We need to get out of here, there are Juvies searching the woods.”

He looks up at Percy for a few more seconds before turning into a horse, obviously offering a ride. Percy’s tempted, but knows the hooves will make too much noise, limit their time to escape. He shakes his head, “No way, they’ll find us easier. Better to just show me.”

In a second, Frank’s himself again. Percy can’t help but marvel at how control of his powers Frank is. But then, he’d gone through a lot to get that control. The surgery scars on his head serves a reminder for all of them about the fate waiting for them should they be caught, “What happened? Where’s the food?”

“They caught me.” Percy whispers back, “I’ll explain later, but we have to get the others and find somewhere to hide. There are at least two cops in these woods, and a third went back for help so there’s probably more by now.”

He nods, “They’re just through here.”

 

After what feels like hours of running, and several close calls with police, they find a large abandoned mansion. With just enough time to get all eight of them inside with the door closed, Percy hears the cops outside.

Everybody huddles together in the shadows of a burned staircase, and remain silent. Nico’s curled up in Leo’s lap, Frank’s turned into a pup again and hides in the hood of Hazel’s jacket, Jason and Piper are farthest back with him crouching in front of her in a stance that says he’s ready to defend should he need to. After at least half an hour of silence, Percy feels a hand on his shoulder and looks back to see Annabeth there.

He slowly relaxes, moving over to her and she wraps her arms around his shoulders. She whispers softly to him, “Are you okay?”

Percy thinks about all the things that contribute to the answer; no. He’s not okay and he’s not alright. They almost got caught because of him, they’re off course because of him. He’s exhausted from the running, and hiding, and lying. Before this, he’s never fully understood what Thalia meant when she referred to living like a hunted animal. Sure, there was always the possibility of a monster attack, but they never came often enough for Percy to say he felt hunted. No, this is being hunted.

Looking around at all of them, his worry only grows. All the kids in the Graveyard had lived this life. Some of the older ones had wild looks in their eyes when they arrived, implying years of running and hiding when they couldn’t trust anyone. Now, Percy can see that wild look starting to prop up in his friends eyes. Especially Nico’s. He’d been so close to breaking before all of this, then Leo seemed to make it better again and his eyes had brightened, but they’re dulling again; getting angry, resentful, scared.

Percy looks back at Annabeth, and manages, “Yeah, I’m fine. We should stay here for a while, just to make sure they’re gone, but move on before morning.”

Nobody has enough energy to argue.


	50. Ch. 44-Nico

Nico scouts out the new hiding places. It’s understandable since he has better vision in the dark. But every now and then, he brings Leo with him; for a moment alone with him, for company. So all of this is his fault. If he wasn’t distracted by Leo, he would have seen the signs of danger. The trip wire that hits Leo’s ankle as he moves in front of Nico. Because he feels safe in the warehouse; they haven’t had issues with anywhere not being safe.

But then suddenly, the ground underneath Leo falls out from under him, and Nico feels a wave of shame come over him as he staggers back instead of reaching for his boyfriend’s arm. He should catch him, pull him to safety, but instead Nico falls back on his butt at the edge of the pit. The noise brings the others into the warehouse, but Nico only has eyes for his boyfriend. A piece of the floor hadn’t fallen, and Leo stands precariously perched there with wide, panicked eyes staring down into the darkness under him.

The son of Hades snaps his fingers, “Leo!” And the other boy looks up, “Baby, I need you to relax, okay? Focus on me. You trust me, right?”

Leo keeps his eyes on Nico, and licks his lips before slowly muttering, “I’m scared.”

“I know.” Nico keeps his voice steady, calm, and soothing, “I’m going to get you out of this safe and sound, I promise. And you trust me?”

The fear in his eyes dulls slowly. Nico doesn’t need the answer because that look in Leo’s eyes already gives him the answer. But he wants Leo to say it, he wants Leo to be talking.

“I trust you.” Leo mutters, keeping his eyes locked with his boyfriend’s, “I trust you completely.”

Nico takes a deep breath, forgetting that the others are there. Jason can fly over and grab Leo no problem, or Frank can become an eagle to bring him over. But Leo isn’t their boyfriend, he’s Nico’s. He has to do this. He has to save Leo, “Okay, baby, I’m going to come get you. It’s all going to be okay. I need you to put your arms out to your sides like you’re trying to balance.”

Slowly, Leo does so, and Nico analyzes the situation. Leo’s standing on a floorboard, towards the front of it although he has one foot mostly behind the other. Behind Leo is a little bit of the board, just enough room for another foot. Nico crouched down, unlacing his combat boots, “There you go. It’s all going to be okay. You’re safe with me, Leo. I won’t let anybody hurt you, and I won’t let the Parts Pirate take you away from me.”

He kicks his shoes off, his toes wiggling, ready to grab a hold of the board. Nico barely hears Leo say that he knows before the shadows take a hold of him. He pants into Leo’s back, just between his shoulder blades as he wraps his arms around him, and his bare feet grab onto the board. Even his little feet barely have enough room, and Nico only gets a second to rest before the support for it breaks.

They fall down, and Leo cries out. Nico closes his eyes, focusing all his might on where he wants to be. When they hit ground, it’s with a soft thud. Leo’s knees buckle and Nico falls with him, spooned up against him. The calm only lasts for a few heartbeats before Jason calls from right above them, “Are you two okay?”

Reluctantly, Nico pulls his face from Leo’s back and blinks up at the others gathered around them. He smiles, letting out a tiny laugh as he realizes they’re okay. He managed to get Leo out safely.

“We should go.” Frank says darkly, “The trap probably alerted the parts pirate it was triggered. They’ll be here soon.”

Nico stands, but refuses to let go of Leo, keeping their hands locked together. As they trudge away from the warehouse, and towards an abandoned factory in the distance, Nico whispers to him, “Never scare me like that again.”


	51. Ch. 45-Leo

Leo drags his feet in the dirty, watching the little clouds billowing up around his sneakers with the holes in them that are property just letting all the dirt in to his sweaty socks. Next to him, Frank walks stoic and silent. With his hair starting to grow back, they don’t feel as worried letting Frank being seen even though the scar is still evident. Apparently, brain surgery is cliche these days.

The latino sighs softly, running his fingers through his hair, rubbing his for the phantom feeling of his toolbelt.

Frank looks over at him, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Leo nods shyly, “Just missing home and Festus.”

The other boy nods, “Hopefully we’ll be back soon. The trouble is that we don’t know what we have to do.”

“We’ll find out. I don’t think Morpheus would just leave us hanging.”

“At least you have Nico.”

“You have Hazel.” Leo counters. The other boy doesn’t answer for a while. After several more minutes, Leo stops Frank by grabbing his arm, “Look, you love Hazel, right? You want to be with her?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, I want the same thing with Nico. The life, the house, wedding, kids; waking up and having breakfast in bed, and lazy Saturday mornings.” Leo sighs softly, trying to control his emotions, “If we both do it right and get what we want, then we’ll be brothers, and we should act like it.”

Frank looks at him for a minute before answering, “Nico and Hazel are really attached to each other. If it comes to it, they’ll pick each other over us.”

“And if we’re getting along, there’s less of a chance they’ll need to.”

The son of Mars nods slowly, “I don’t hate you.”

“I don’t hate you either.”

Frank nods and starts walking. After a while of silence, the son of Mars speaks again, “I don’t want all of it.”

Leo glances around as they start coming to signs of civilization; trash, and he can see houses in the distance, “What do you mean?”

“The big wedding, the house, all the cute couple stuff. All that sounds great. Kids sound great but...I’d rather adopt. The baby making process doesn’t sound appealing.”

“Sex?” The latino’s honestly surprised, “You don’t want sex?”

Frank shrugs, “It doesn’t sound appealing or...sexy. It just sounds gross.”

“Gross?” Leo yelps before taking a deep breath, “What do you mean?”

“Okay, it’s like...a person wants me to stick the thing I pee with inside of them.”

“When you put it that way...kind of gross.” Leo admits.

“And sex is dangerous. Your heart rate slows, your arteries contract, your digestive system stops, less blood gets to your brain-”

“Got it.” Leo mutters Honestly, he can understand Frank’s point. Sex is scary, dangerous, and in blunt terms gross; Leo still wants it. He opens the door to a supermarket.

Frank heads inside, “I just don’t understand why we need it.”

“To make babies.”

“In a world that’s already massively overpopulated. When there are kids in Africa starving to death, or kids like you shipped around from place to place. You know, studies say there are four times as many gay couples who want babies as there are kids in orphanages and foster homes.”

“And yet in most states we still can’t adopt, at least back home.”

Frank starts picking up the food from their list, “I wonder if that’s one of the promptings in favor of unwinding; that there’s too many people.”


	52. Ch. 46-Jason

Jason knows he’s being twitchy, drawing attention, but he can’t help it. He’s never made a food run before and for some reason Leo insisted that they’d draw more attention going grocery shopping together. But he’s almost done, almost out. The line moves, and Jason steps up to set his basket on the conveyer belt.

He taps his fingers against his leg, carefully watching the people around him. Hopefully, they’ll only think he’s an overactive teenager who’s nervous because he stole money from his parents for sweets. Hopefully, Leo’s still sitting outside, playing with the rubix cube he found in the warehouse somewhere in Pennsylvania; all abandoned rundown hiding places blur together after eight states of them. The rest of Arizona, New Mexico, the very top of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the night before they entered New York. Most of their journey is over, they just have to go along the southern border of New York to reach the city, and then out to Long Island.

“Is that all?”

Jason looks up at the clerk, offering him a charming smile, “Yeah, that’s all.”

All. That shouldn’t be all. They need more food than that, but they’re down to counting pennies for it. The one measly bag is all they can afford.

After passing over the money--leaving only a dollar and a half left in his pocket--Jason leaves through sliding glass doors. He glances around for Leo. There’s an old lady standing at the sidewalk edge presumably waiting for somebody to bring the car up, a young couple with their arms around each other as they walk inside, a curly hair teen sitting on a bench while cuddling a newborn, a group of teenagers sneaking around the building probably to get high.

It takes Jason several more glances to realize the boy on the bench is Leo. Leo’s hair, now grown out to the bottom of his neck, covers his face as he gazes down at the little bundle in his arms.

Jason slowly walks over to the duo, “Leo...what’s that?”

The Latino boy looks up at his friend, “A baby.”

“Where’d you get it?”

Leo looks down, “Somebody just left him on a doorstep. He started crying and I thought somebody from inside would come get him, but nobody did.”

Jason sighs softly and sits down, “So, you took him?”

“I was going to put him back, but after I picked him up the door opened and some lady started screaming at me about getting caught. She said she’d call the Juvies so I ran.”

“He is pretty cute.” The blond admits, “What are we going to do with him? We can’t exactly take him back to the others.”

Leo sighs softly, “I know. But I don’t like the idea of just leaving him. What if he ends up in a staho or with a family that abuses him then unwinds him. And it’d be all our fault.”

A part of Jason know this is a dream, the baby isn’t real, and it isn’t their responsibility. But the kid’s looking up at him with big brown eyes, the jet of black hair showing just slightly out of the blanket. It’s hard to see himself in the child, but Jason knows that, in this universe, his mom probably sat somewhere like this debating what to do with him. Leo’s worried about the kid being in a staho like he’d been, well Jason’s worried about the fate of a storked child like him.

The blond sighs, “I guess, we can take him with us. They are looking for eight kids, not eight kids and a baby.”

“Actually, they’re looking for six kids. They don’t know Frank and Piper are back with us.” Leo mutters, letting the sleepy child take a hold of his pinky finger and bouncing his hand a little.

Slowly, Jason stands, “There a little bit of money left, we should be able to get him some formula but you’ll have to finger feed him.”


	53. Ch. 47-Annabeth

Annabeth is honestly surprised about how well the whole situation with the baby goes. First if all, Leo refused to just keep calling him “the baby” so they named him Michelangelo. Everytime Michael cries, Nico or Leo cuddle him within seconds. The two of them handle feeding, changing the cloth diaper, burping, sleeping, and carrying. Except for the occasional cry in the middle of the night, none of the others are bothered by the baby, and even those are quickly silenced.

The other girls like helping them, but Annabeth just sees the boy as an extra risk. Michael’s just one more thing that could get them caught. She wants to be mad at Leo for his moment of emotional weakness that caused him to pick the child up in the first place, but she can’t blame him. He told them the story about the crying baby and how nobody was coming to pick him up so he was going to comfort the child. Honestly, in the situation, Annabeth would have picked him up too.

Michael serves as hope for them, a reminder that even here innocence still exists. He isn’t filled with hatred for either side or the mother who left him. No, the boy is happy with this random mismatch of people taking care of him because it means he always gets attention from somebody. They all feel bad when he asks for more food and they can’t give it to him. Starving hope isn’t good, but they don’t starve him. Nico and Leo keep careful track of the formula to make sure they’ll have enough to feed him until they reach Manhattan where Nico says he can steal more food for all the them while drawing less attention.

But as they near New York, she gets worried about Percy. With each step, he draws away from them; every night he steps back from their company a little earlier; every day he speaks less to any of them.

He must be nervous, approaching home. Annabeth doesn’t know what his life in this world was. She knows his stepfather was a juvy cop and signed the unwind order without Sally knowing so she helped Percy escape when he was thirteen. Now he’s sixteen, and they haven’t seen each other since a week after he turned thirteen. Most of that she’s guessing based on what little he’s actually said. Back home, he hasn’t spoken to his mom in six months.

Annabeth knows he wants to stop and see her while they’re in New York. Even if she is only a dream version of his mom, that’s better than nothing. Seeing her here could get him through the rest of the war back home. But it’s dangerous. She can see so many ways that could go wrong. Namely, seeing her could also mean seeing the juvy cop who would send them all right back.

If they can find a safe way to see her, Annabeth would like to see Sally again. Even if she is a dream. After everything since Percy disappeared, Sally’s become more and more like a second mom to her. Annabeth suspects part of it was missing Percy, missing her little boy to take care of. But she thinks that some of that was genuine, motherly caring for her. At least, she hopes so.


	54. Ch. 48-Percy

He thought he’d feel less tense when they reach the city, but standing in Time Square Percy just feels sick to his stomach. This is barely recognizable as his city, as his home. On the surface, Time Square hasn’t changed much; stores still tower above them and he can see the M&M store down the street where Paul took him to get blue M&M’s for his proposal to Sally. But Percy can tell the difference. The twinkling advertisements now sport signs for brain implants and surgeons among the coca-cola and movie ads.

There’s less smoke in the air and less construction. Still, Percy can feel the facade. Outside the tourist area, it looks like slums. The buildings are falling apart, it’s dark and dirty, it’s overcrowded.

“We shouldn’t stay here.” Piper mutters. She looks more upset than Percy feels.

“We need to figure out how to get to camp.” Jason agrees, his arm around her shoulders.

Percy barely hears their words. His mom’s not far away, within walking distance. He can walk there no problem, feel safe in her arms if only for a few minutes. She’d still smell of candy and baking bread, and she’d hold him close, cuddling him tight.

Since waking up at the Wolf House, Percy hasn’t let himself miss her. He’s remained focused on getting back to her safely, but now that his standing within miles of her, Percy keep going back to wanting to see her.

Before he realizes it, Percy’s walking in the direction of their apartment. He hears the others talking, but pay them no mind. It’s over now, he’s decided. They’re following him, but Percy doesn’t look back as he forges his way through twenty blocks, and down an alley before stopping.

He gazes up at the stone building in much better condition than those further away. The rickety old fire escape zig-zags up the side of the building right up to his old bedroom window on the fifth floor as a harsh orange lightning strike against the bricks.

“Percy, we need to think about this.” Annabeth says gently, taking his arm loosely, “There’s so many things that could happen. That could go wrong.”

Jason whispers, “What is it?”

Before anybody else can answer, Percy states as strong as he can manage, “My mom’s up there.”

They all fall silent, gazing up at the building. Once here, Percy’s resolve crumples. He can’t just go in there. What if she doesn’t want him? Worse, what if Gabe’s still there? She promised that she was leaving him for signing Percy’s order on top of all the rest of what he’d done to them (yeah, Gabe signed his order form. The stupid thing doesn’t even need both signatures apparently), but what if she hasn’t? What if something happened to Paul after he helped Percy escape, and she’d decided to stay?

If Smelly Gabe really is in the picture, Percy doesn’t know if he’s working or not. Usually he would be at this time of day, but in the three years he’s been gone the guy could have changed shifts. Or Sally could have moved after splitting up with Gabe, and only he’d be up there. She could have been forced to get another job so she wouldn’t be there.

Percy sighs softly, and turns from the building. To his surprise, it’s Leo who speaks up, “Where are you going? I thought you wanted to see your mom.”

“Like Annabeth said, there’s too many variables.”

The next thing he hears is footsteps on the fire escape; the soft clanging of combat boots. Percy turns to see Nico--baby Michael still in his arms--climbing up the stairs and looking very intent. He’s up to the third floor before Percy manages to speak, “Nico?”

He looked over the edge, glaring down at Percy, “I’m going to see if your mom’s there.”

Nico keeps going and Percy doesn’t have the heart to stop him. He knows the son of Hades is a little attached to Sally--she’s nice to him despite his dad, and mothers him every chance she gets because she knows he mostly lives on the streets so Nico will show up at their apartment sometimes when he needs to feel safe for a bit. Hades, the kid probably misses her almost as much as Percy.

That’s when Percy realizes the brilliance of what Nico’s doing. He can go up there and check if anything’s safe, but if he gets caught by somebody he can say he was scouting out for a good place to stork his son. That’s probably not a legal reason to be on a fire escape, but Percy knows it’s happened before and nobody will think twice about it.

When Nico reaches his window, Percy feels like his heart stops before switching to racing a marathon. He watches as his cousin peeks into the room before quickly retreating. Percy figures that’s a sign that things aren’t safe. So he’s shocked when Nico just stands there while the window opens. Nico says something, but Percy can’t hear what he says.

He’s pretty sure he stops breathing as she steps out onto the fire escape next to Nico and looks down. Sally’s got more gray hair than he remembers, and she’s lost weight. But there she stands, next to Nico looking as warm and inviting as always. Nico says something, and Sally looks down. Percy can see her brown eyes twinkling down at him and she smiles brightly.

Before he knows it, he’s making his way up the fire escape, and she comes down to meet him. Percy finds himself wrapped up in her arms. He buries his face in her blouse, taking in the smell of baking cookies, and lets himself cry. But he doesn’t really mind the tears coming because he can tell that she’s crying too.

 

Sally hauls them all into the apartment using the fire escape. Only once they’re settled with food--she even gives Nico a proper bottle for Michael, Percy knows she always has one in case somebody in the building gets storked--does she rest, sitting down on the floor next to her son. He doesn’t mind the close proximity or how she fusses over him; he’s lost weight, his hair needs cut, he’s grown so much.

She watches the others while they eat. Nico and Leo make sure Michael has enough before eating anything for themselves. Hazel sits in Frank’s lap as they eat off the same plate. Jason lays on his back with his head in Piper’s lap; she feeds him bits of food occasionally but Jason doesn’t seem to be very hungry.

“What happened after you left, honey?” Sally asks, running her fingers through his hair. So, Percy explains through bites of blue pancakes that after she and Paul got him out of the city, he focused on moving. He got half way to Vegas before being picked up by the Anti-Divisional Resistance. From there, he moved through Safe House until ending up at the Graveyard where he rose up the ranks until the raid.

Percy can’t look at his friend. He hasn’t told them his background here, mostly because he feels bad for remembering so much more than they do. But Percy knows his whole history here, it’s his dream, it’s his mind. They’re effectively inside Percy’s mind.

“I’ve been watching the news.” She smiles, “I always knew my brave little boy was special.”

“Mom.” He grumbles, blushing.

“No really.” Sally insists, “You’re my beautiful hero.”

He glances over at Annabeth, who’s smiling at them. Percy feels bad; she and Nico have been close to Sally, but here she doesn’t remember them. He shifts uncomfortably, “I, um...actually, mom, Annabeth’s my girlfriend.”

“Well of course she is.” Sally coos happily, “A pretty boy like you needs a good girl to keep you on track.” She kept talking through his blush, “Tell me about the little one, he’s really cute.”

“Thank you.” Leo and Nico answer together.

Nico laid his head back on Leo’s shoulder, rocking the baby to sleep gently, “Leo picked him up.”

“He was just laying on somebody’s doorstep crying. I just wanted to quiet him, and then I was going to put him down, but-”

“But somebody opened the door and assumed you were leaving him.” Sally guesses.

“So, we’ve been taking care of him until we can find him a good home.” Hazel adds, leaning over to look at the child yawning, “It’s been kind of hard keeping him quiet when we’re hiding, but the Juvies aren’t expecting us to have a baby.”

Sally looks them over, clearly seeing how attached the three were to that baby. Percy could tell what was coming, and although he hadn’t thought about it, it kind of made sense. She asked, “Find a good home, hu?”

“As much as we’d like to, we can’t really take care of him forever. It’s not much of a childhood on the run like us. But we wanted to do our best to make sure he doesn’t end up somewhere he’ll get abused or sent to a state home.” Leo mutters, kissing the top of his boyfriend’s head.

“It’s bad enough the amount of bullying storks get, we don’t want to make life any harder for him.” Jason adds softly. He’s never talked much about what Starkey put in his head about how storks are versus how they should be treated. Percy figures that come from him not Jason, but can’t really argue against it.

After less than a minute, Sally suggests, “Why doesn’t he stay here? I can say I got storked, and Paul and I can take care of him. That way, you can still come see him sometimes.”

Nico instantly brightens at her suggestion, “You’d do that?”

“Sure. I’ve always wanted more kids, just not with my first husband. We’re almost through the divorce, and Paul’s already proposed.”

“Finally.” Percy mutters, slightly teasing, “You have been together for how long now? Three, four years?” He looks at the others, “Mom and Paul helped me get out of the city when Gabe signed my order form.”

“I don’t think we could find a better place to leave him.” Leo smiles.

 

Before dark, they make their way back down the fire escape minus one baby. Percy can tell they’re all sad to see the baby go--Michael reminded them there’s still innocence in this world--but they know it’s for the best. As they walk towards Long Island, Frank says, “You’re mom’s really nice, Percy, is she...like that back home too?”

“Aunt Sally’s great.” Nico put in, skipping a little.

“You say that because she feeds you whenever you come through my window.” Percy teases him, ruffling his cousin’s hair, “But yeah, she’s pretty great. She mother’s everybody I bring home because she understands how hard it can be being a demigod, and how lucky I am to have her when most demigods don’t have their mortal parent’s support. She’s always had the point of view that there’s enough to go around. Enough cookies, enough hugs-”

“Enough stories of how cute Percy was as a baby.” Annabeth laughs softly, and Percy can’t help joining in.


	55. Ch. 49-Leo

As they trudge uphill, Leo takes Nico’s hand in his. He’s scared. After all they’ve been through, he’s scared to reach the top of this one hill. The last leg of their journey. He doesn’t see it as unreasonable for him to be scared; there’s a tree stump at the top.

Nico takes his hand willingly, and squeezes gently. It’s his own little way of reassuring Leo, of saying “it’s okay. I’m here, and nothing we can find up there will change that”. Leo appreciates the gesture.

Their little gang reaches the top, and Leo can tell he’s not the only one fighting back tears. After coming so far and struggling for so long, they deserve something good. But apparently they aren’t going to get it.

He stares down at the remains of Camp Half Blood. With Thalia’s tree gone, the borders wouldn’t have stood up against an attack. The cabins are in ruins, he can see the firepoll from his own cabin sticking up from the ground with sheets of metal almost completely rushed away, and the Hades cabin is nothing more than a few black chunks of rock covered in ivy. In the distance, three columns stand in place of the dining pavilion at various heights and largely overcome with weeds. The Big House looks like somebody took a wrecking ball to it before resorting to tearing it down brick by brick and plank by plank. It’s impossible to see the chariot track anymore, the lava rock climbing wall still stands tall and proud as if fighting against the plantlife blanketing the rest of camp, the arena got the same treatment as the Big House, and the fire pit stands out like a black hole amongst the greens.

It’s Percy who moves first. He plops down next to Thalia’s stump and buries his face in his knees. Leo can hear him sobbing, and can’t really blame Percy. Even Frank and Hazel look a little misty eyed. Especially Frank. Only Nico remains composed, but Leo can feel his hand trembling with anger.

After a while, Annabeth gently pulls on Percy’s arm, “Come on. We can’t just stand here.”

Wading through the debris makes the whole thing feel worse. It’s like a piece of shrapnel found it’s way into Leo’s chest and is refusing to come out. He kicks the burned remains of the caduceus that lived above the Hermes cabin. As they pass it, he wants to glare at the rust covered pacman like wheel of Nemesis, but feels bad because even she doesn’t deserve to be disgraced like this.

Through the weeds at the dining pavilion, Leo can see the deep scar that arched over the floor. He’d never heard the story of how it happened, but that spot always radiated power to him. Now, however, it just seems sad.

Nico crouches down, and runs his fingers over it. His voice comes out choked as he mutters, “Gods, I was an ass back then.”

Percy chuckles dryly, “Yeah, you really were.”

The son of Hades closes his eyes, his hand hovering over the scar, “I can’t feel anything down there. There’s nothing.”

“What does that mean?” Hazel asks softly. Nobody seems to want to talk much louder than a whisper here.

“This is...was a direct path to Tartarus, but there’s nothing down there. Like...like the underworld is just...gone.”

Nobody wants to brood on that thought, and they keep walking closer to the Big House. As they near it, Leo can see other objects resting in the weeds; a bent shield, vials of potions, a Camp Half Blood shirt riddled with holes. Percy crouches to pick up a scarf from where it’s caught on a stone. It’s a shimmering pink, and Leo can just barely smell roses coming from it.

Percy runs his fingers over it, “How...how could they let this happen? I know Zeus doesn’t like heroes, but...how could they just sit back and watch us get destroyed?”

“Maybe they didn’t have a choice.” Jason offers.

They all jump as a loud clang comes from behind them. Turning around, Leo can see that the lightning bolt that hung above the Zeus cabin finally gave up trying and clattered to the ground. Standing in the remains of the cabin is a large statue of the god. There are craters in it’s robes but the face remains intact,  glaring down at them.

Leo can sense the bought of anger coming from Jason before the blond moves. He rushes at the statue, throwing his hands against it and pushing. The statue must have been weakened from all the time exposed to the elements as it topples over easily, breaking into three pieces. Jason lets out a choked sob, and sits down on the dias the statue had sat on. They walk over to him, and Piper sits down to wrap her arm around her boyfriend’s shaking shoulders.

That’s when an idea hits him, and Leo turns towards the one place they haven’t checked yet.

Leo turns to rush through the woods. He can tell the others are following him, but Leo doesn’t look back. Instead, he runs until he reaches the cliff wall. He searches for the marker of stone for a minute before pressing a red-hot hand to the mountain.

He hears the gasps behind him as a piece of the cliff slides open to reveal rows of blank-faced warriors carrying grecian swords and circular shields. They’re so life-like that it takes Leo a few seconds to realize they aren’t real. Still, each have a different skin tone, hair type, eye color. As they don’t move, the others slowly come to the same conclusion Leo had: these are robots.

“What’s going on?” Jason finally asks, “Why are they here?”

Leo looks them over before noticing one standing almost in the shadows with dark brown hair and porcelain skin. He goes over to the drone, lifting it’s head with a mechanical creak which makes it’s eyelids open to reveal nearly pitch black eyes, “They’re distractions.”

The others look at the mechanical son of Hades for a minute before Jason shakes his head and runs further into Bunker Nine, “No, it can’t be.”

“Jason?” Piper calls, following him.

They speed walk past rooms of bunk beds, straw and metal dummies for training, armories, forges, and end up in a large main room with a circular table in the center. Weapons cover the walls; not just weapons, but their weapons. Nico’s stygian sword, Riptide in pen form, Leo’s toolbelt, Jason and Hazel’s gladii, Piper’s dagger, and a more technologically advanced version of Frank’s bow.

“They employed Defense Tactic Nine.” Jason mutters, looking around the room.

“What’s that?” Percy asks, moving over to run his fingers over the sword that had served him well since he was twelve, “I’ve never heard of it.”

“I was helping Chiron develop it in case of a Roman attack since, as demigods, the legion would be able to pass the border. Bunker Nine is a fortress that’s hard to siege.”

“Retreat into the castle strategy.” Frank supplies.

“Exactly.” Jason nods, “But the drones were not part of our plan.”

“I get the feeling this wasn’t a Greek verses Roman thing.” Frank mutters. He wanders over to the weapon board and pulls off an intricate golden dagger.

“That belongs to the Augur.”

“And why would that be here if the Romans conquered the Greeks?”  Annabeth points out.

Hazel sits in one of the chairs, “Plus, Frank and I couldn’t get into New Rome. I think they’ve been wiped out as well.”

Leo remains silent, slowly looking around at Bunker Nine. This doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like the place, the home, he’d come to love. This place is foreign, strange, and it causes a sick feeling in the back of his throat. It’s covered in dust. He keeps expecting to find dead here, around every corner, glaring at them from the beds, stalking up to them through the shadows. Leo’s tempted to ask Nico if he can sense anybody else here, but he doesn’t dare. Besides, in a place like this, Nico might not even know.


	56. Part. 7-Camp

"...We are not you enemies. Demigods have lived in coexistence with humans for millennium without incidence. We have cohabitated and worked together since the dawn of time. There's no reason to turn on each other now. The fact is, we need each other. Without humans, demigods wouldn't exist, and the demigods fight monsters most humans can't see. Our lives are hard and rough, but ask any demigod out there and we'll say that we wouldn't change it for the world.

Let us talk. Let us find a peaceful-"

~Nico di Angelo, Time Square, March 27th 2020


	57. Ch. 50-Nico

Nico yawns, rubbing his eyes as he heads back into the main room of Bunker Nine with three glasses of water. Only he, Percy, and Jason are still up, pouring over the few documents they could find in this place and trying to figure out what happened with no luck. They all started out, but one by one the others had left to find beds to crash in. It shocks Nico that Percy is still up; he figured that it would be himself, Annabeth, and Jason still up. Then Annabeth and Jason since he still doesn’t like spending too much time with Annabeth without Percy there. He has nothing against her, not anymore, it just brings up bad memories of bad times.

But, no, it’s the Big Three boys still up at well past midnight, fighting papercuts and twirling letters in search of answers. They aren’t finding anything though, and Nico’s about ready to go find Leo and get some shuteye. But before he can leave, Percy asks, “How’s everything with you and Leo? I mean...after losing Michael and everything.”

The son of Hades looks at him curiously for a minute before answering, “We’re fine. I mean, we always knew it was a short term thing, and Michael’s better off now.”

“Losing a child can put a strain on any relationship.” Jason mutters, eyes still focused on the document in front of him but Nico can tell he isn’t reading anymore.

Nico rolls his eyes, “He wasn’t our child, we were just taking-”

“Could have fooled me.” Percy brakes in, twirling one of their pencils, “With how you two acted with him, you could have convinced anybody he was yours.”

About to protest again, Nico pauses to really think about what they’re saying. He and Leo had been overly protective of Michael, doing almost everything for him themselves, and cuddling him at night to keep him warm, “It doesn’t matter now, he’s gone. And I’m going to-”

“But you two are doing okay with it?” Percy presses.

“We’re fine.”

“And you’re happy?” The son of Jupiter puts in.

Nico glares at him, “We’re very happy.” He sighs and sits back down, “Is it supposed to be this easy? I mean...look at us. We don’t fight, we don’t even disagree. We just exist on the same field of being. He can tell when I’m upset, I know when he’s scared. He holds me without questioning why. While we were traveling, he made sure I got out of the sun enough. I just expected a relationship to be work, and I feel like with Leo...it’s not.”

“Relationships are work.” Jason finally puts down the papers to give them his full attention, “You’re in the honeymoon stage where everything is right and perfect and fine. Eventually, you will disagree. It always does. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad relationship, or you two stopped existing on the same field. There will be rough patches, you just haven’t hit them yet.”

Slowly, he nods. What Jason says makes sense, “At some point, everything perfect has to end.”

“But that’s what I’m saying. The fact that you aren’t disagreeing isn’t what makes you two a good couple. It’s that you’re good for each other. And if you really belong together and really love each other, those disagreements aren’t going to be a big deal in the long run.”

They talk a little more, forgetting the work, and discuss more relationship stuff. But before too long, all three agree that it’s time for bed. Nico finds Leo in the end of a corridor of rooms with bunkbeds. He’s taken two mattresses off the beds and laid them on the floor right up against each other. Nico can’t hide the smile as he realizes that Leo made room for him, so they wouldn’t have to squeeze together but could still sleep next to each other. He climbs onto the bed, wiggling into the sleeping Leo’s arms, and cuddles close to him. After a minute, Nico looks at Leo’s face, combing his fingers through those hectic curls, and mutters, “You’re perfect, Leo Valdez.”


	58. Ch. 51-Piper

Leo’s spinning around in the swivel chair, staring up at the ceiling, “There has to be something on there about what happened here. They can’t just wipe out an age old civilization without a sound.”

Nobody else say anything for a while, completely at a loss as they stare at the white screen and the simple blue, red, and yellow letters above the search bar. Jason’s playing with one of his lip piercings, Annabeth pours over the papers they’d all abandoned the night before. Piper’s willing to bet she’s pouring over them again because she feels bad for going to bed before her seaweed brain boyfriend.

“Search ‘demigods’.” Jason suggests like it’s obvious because it is. That’s the simplest search, but Piper can still see Leo’s fingers hesitating before tapping in the word. Instantly, searches come up, but they’re too broad. Piper can see hits for the books Frank had, something about a movie that tanked, fans ranting, but nothing about the real demigods.

She sighs, feeling a little nauseous, “Try adding ‘Time Square’.”

They all stare at her for a few heartbeats before Leo does it. The results just make Piper more sick as the word ‘massacre’ pops up again and again. She can see Percy swallow before muttering, “Well, we found something.”

“Oh, gods, there’s a video.” Frank groans, looking pale.

Silence rings through the room, before Leo slowly moves the cursor to click on the link. The video pops up, and they’re all waiting with baited breath as it load. Piper feels bile rising in her throat as the video buffers. When it starts, there’s a pretty blond newswoman talking.

“Fires and riots continue to sweep the nation, but first there was a different scene at Time Square this afternoon. In response to the congressional debates over demigod debacle, dozens of demigods congregated in Time Square to speak out.”

The scene changes to show a group of demigods standing on the steps of Time Square with, to their surprises, Nico stands above the others. He’s clearly talking very animatedly, but the anchor speaks over him, “Police were quick to the scene, but were met with resistance. None of the police were harmed, and few of the hostels escaped only to be tracked down on side streets.”

Leo yelped at what the video showed next and pulled his boyfriend closer so he could hide his face in Nico’s jacket, because the scene shows the son of Hades falling back as a spot of blood appears on his shirt and the other demigods scatter. Piper can see herself grabbing Leo’s hand, tugging him towards Jason who gets shot before they reach him. Instead of stopping, she just keeps pulling her best friend along.

Percy jumps forward to stop the video. As the silence comes from their computer, Piper can hear Leo’s soft sobs. She can’t blame him, he did just see his boyfriend shot. Jason moves over to the computer, moving back from the screen and quickly looking through more of the results. She can’t blame him either, he’d just been shot.

“Baby, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Nico whispers soothingly, petting Leo’s hair, “I’m right here, baby, it’s okay.”

“They called it the Demigod Massacre.” Jason tells them, his voice surprisingly steady, “Twenty five died there, including all of us. After that, they laid siege to both camps, wiping the rest of the demigods. According to this, it increased to trying to eliminate the gods’ influence on society including stopping the teaching of them in schools.”

“If there’s nobody to believe in the gods, even believe that other people used to believe they existed...they’d fade, resulting in no more demigods.” Annabeth mutters.

Piper just feels even sicker at her explanation.


	59. Ch. 52-Leo

Leo likes the sleeping situation with Bunker Nine. Actually, he’s down with all of Bunker Nine. It’s the rest of Camp where he ran into trouble. He doesn’t like seeing the first place he’s called home since his mother died in ruins. But deep down, he knows this isn’t real. All the ruins are just Morpheus messing with them.

But he likes the sleeping situation a lot. Sure, the rooms originally looked like barracks, but with little effort Leo’d created bedframes and they’d turned four of the rooms into real bedrooms, each fitted out with a king sized bed. And each couple took a room.

He hasn’t really been alone with Nico for an extended period of time since before they got to the Graveyard while as close to carefree as they could get. The others were always there or somewhere else in danger of getting unwound at less than a moment’s notice. But in Bunker Nine, they don’t have to worry about it. Leo knows that around Camp there are cameras rolling, presumably with people watching, but here there’s nothing. No pesky friends to be eavesdropping, minimal threat, nothing separating them.

Leo feels awkward at first, but Nico just climbs right in, cuddling up under the worn covers and looking up at the Latino expectantly. So, Leo gets in the bed to instantly be attacked by a cuddly son of Hades. Nico curls up half on top of him, using Leo’s shoulder as a pillow and locking an arm around his waist so his victim couldn’t escape. Leo doesn’t want to. Instead, he pulls Nico closer, warming his body slightly to get them nice and toasty under the covers, and closes his eyes to go to sleep.

It’s when he’s on the brink of falling asleep, that Nico suddenly moves. The son of Hades sits up, and before Leo can move, kisses him. Leo’s kind of surprised by the action. They both know they’re a couple, all the others know they’re a couple, but Nico hasn’t really been into kissing. He’ll do a peck every now and then, but not like this. No, this is strong, determined, with a point. So, Leo goes with it. He opens his eyes, and reaches up to cup the back of Nico’s neck gently.

He can feel the lithe body on top of his, Nico’s tiny hands petting his chest over the tanktop he’s wearing, their noses brush together. Then there’s the smell, underneath the dirt and grime smells, there’s a trace of vanilla and sugar and something else that might have been decomposing flesh. When he takes the first adventurous steps into this new aspect of their relationship, Leo’s rewarded by a taste so special and unique to Nico he can’t put it into words beyond wonderful, perfect, home.

When Nico pulls back, he’s blushing brighter than Leo’d ever seen before, and he finds it adorable. Especially when Nico stutters, “Uh, yeah...I-I just thought...”

Leo lightly kisses him again, “I like that think.”

Nico smiles, and rests his head back down on Leo’s shoulder, apparently content with that for now. It feels like it takes Leo forever to get to sleep after that, even though Nico starts lightly snoring almost instantly. But Leo feels warm and fuzzy, and the added weight on him doesn’t help that sensation of lazy wholeness. For that’s what it is, he feels whole with his warm, cuddly son of Hades there to nuzzle his neck in his sleep.

They get into a routine with doing that every night. Once warm and cozy under their covers, they’ll kiss to their hearts’ content before curling up so Leo can’t tell where he ends and Nico begins, and drifting off into sleep. Leo adores their nightly routine. Sure, he’d like to do more with Nico, but not here. They can do more after they’re back home, and the war is over. Assuming Nico still wants him then.

But Leo tries his best not to spend too much time thinking about getting out of the dream, he rather likes it here. It’s nice when your enemies are human as opposed to giants who require a god’s help to kill them and even then they aren’t dead for they’ll come back to life in a couple thousand years. These enemies are humans and a concept. As far as Leo’s concerned, that’s easier to deal with.

They spend their time during the days working on figuring out just what they’re supposed to be doing, with little results. There’s no clues, nothing to go on besides the videos of the demigod genocide. It reminds Leo of one of the X-Men TV shows that he watched at some foster home somewhere, where all the mutants were getting hunted down by Sentinel robots and the X-Men had to protect them. Except, in this, they were the X-Men, and they had failed.

Annabeth insists that they need to find the root problem, how the demigods got exposed to the mortals. But try as they might, they can’t find any records about that or about the beginning of the troubles leading up to the Heartland War.

Surprisingly, it’s Percy who makes the break after about a week, “Chiron said that every demigod war coincides with a mortal war.”

“Yeah, where are you going with this?” Annabeth asks him.

“Well, we’re fighting the Giants, and there’s all the stuff between the Greeks and Romans.” Percy continues, “But there’s no mortal war going on in the same area. At least as far as I know.”

With further research into it, they come to the conclusion that the Heartland war followed similar lines to their greco-roman conflict, “So, that’s the connection but there has to be more to it.”

By the time they get to bed that night, Leo’s exhausted, but when Nico sits up to kiss him it’s like a fire was lit in his stomach. Leo hums happily, pulling Nico closer per usual. But he’s feeling a little more curious tonight. He flips them over so Nico’s laying on his back. Nico gasps in surprise which allows the Latino to slip his tongue in and explore the unique, delicious taste. The son of Hades hums softly, wrapping his arms around Leo’s neck.

Leo takes that as permission to explore. While keeping Nico’s mouth occupied, Leo slips his hands along the boy’s chest to the bottom of his dark t-shirt. Underneath is the soft, pearly pale expanse of skin covering Nico’s stomach and chest. He’s really beautifully sculpted; thin and lithe with lightly defined abs and pecs. He’s pure, silvery, and hairless which Leo finds gorgeous. He realizes that he’s stopped kissing in favor of gawking at Nico’s body.

“S-sorry.” He mutters, smiling at the boy underneath him, “I got distracted by your beauty.”

Nico blushes, and Leo notices that when he does his stomach and chest get ever so slightly pink, “Shut up and kiss me, Valdez.”

And Leo does. He kisses Nico’s lips briefly before trailing his lips down the other boy’s soft, beautiful neck. Leo stops at his clavicle, and nibbles gently so he doesn’t actually hurt Nico but he’d like there to be a cute little hickey.

His Ghost King groans softly, muttering, “Valdez, what are you doing?”

“I’m kissing you.” Leo answers cheekily. He can feel his pants stirring, but prefers to focus on the boy underneath him. As Leo kisses lower onto Nico’s chest, he can feel the other boy’s pants stiffening.

Leo doesn’t really know when something changes. He’s kissing along Nico’s abs, running his tongue over the slight imprints of his muscles when he suddenly doesn’t have a body to be kissing. The son of Hephaestus looks up at Nico who’s now standing next to the bed, looking nervous, “What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing. I just...uh...”

“Nico, you can tell me. What’s wrong, baby?” Leo sits up, moving over towards the edge of the bed and his boyfriend.

Nico’s flushed brightly, and Leo can see the bulge in his pants. Something clicks when he notices how tight his own are. That’s what’s wrong, “No, baby, we don’t have to-”

“I’m just going to go...Bathroom.” Nico mutters before rushing out of the room.

Leo lays there for a while in the now chilly bed before realizing just how wrong this is. Nico hasn’t come back, and Leo gets the feeling he doesn’t intend to. So, being the stubborn boyfriend he is, Leo gets up to look for him. He wanders the halls, passing by Hazel and Frank’s room--he’s shifted into a kitten, curled up on her chest, something Leo will never let him live down--and the others who are in various states of exhausted cuddling sleep before pausing at one of the rooms still set up like a barrack.

Inside, in one of the back bunks mostly shrouded in shadows, Leo can see a form. He heads inside as silently as he can, and sighs in relief when he catches sight of the son of Hades curled into a ball and fast asleep. As much as he’d rather having Nico in their bed to cuddle with, Leo figures it’s best to leave him. Something clearly upset Nico, probably their erections, but Leo decides to fix things in the morning.

Leo heads back to his cold, lonely bed. He curls up there, but sleep doesn’t come until the early hours of the morning. Suddenly, it’s hard to lay still without the son of Hades’ light weight resting on him.


	60. Ch. 53-Percy

He casually walks out of the woods and towards the remains of their beautiful dock. All of camp used to be beautiful. But now, as he walks, it’s weeds that brush his sneakers as opposed to the fresh green grass there should be. As he reaches the sand, Percy kicks off his shoes and relishes in the tiny grains between his toes. It’s still cool, with the sun only just beginning to rise.

Percy slowly walks deeper, letting the water crash over his feet. The water feels like home and safety, but different. Like this is the same house, but somebody decided to redecorate. Percy can feel his chest tightening up with panic as he stepped further into the ocean. Up to his knees, to his waist. He feels like he can’t breathe, but knows that he can. It is only panic welling up inside of him. An irrational fear. But he isn’t able to convince himself of that. He doesn’t know for certain that he’ll be able to breathe underwater here. His powers have been too unpredictable. But still, keeps stepping down until the water covered his mouth and nose.

The son of Poseidon holds his breath for twenty, twenty-five, thirty seconds before opening his mouth. Water surges into his mouth, and Percy gags. He pushes himself up off the ocean floor so his head breaks the surface and he gasps for breath.

So, no, he wouldn’t be able to breathe underwater here. But that’s just as well. No better way to deal with a suffocation phobia than to suffocate. Percy treads water for a few minutes, calming his racing heart, before taking a deep breath and sinking back under the water. He’s calmer this time, and glances around the water. It’s groggier than he’s used to but he can still see.

There are no nyads sitting there and weaving baskets, the fish seem to have left the area as well. The plants are running wild just as they are above, and the remains of the pier is covered in algae.

Percy lasts longer this time, closer to forty seconds, but he still pops back up gasping for air. After a while, he gets tired--the water seems to pull his energy away from him instead of giving him more--and Percy slowly walks up onto the land. His wet feet are tickled by the weeds as he walks until he stops suddenly and plops down.

He just sits there for a while, running his hands over the plants and thinking. This isn’t how Camp Half Blood should look. Even beyond the destruction, it shouldn’t be overrun like this. The land is sacred to the gods, and as much as Percy hates them at times, they don’t deserve this level of disrespect.

In frustration, he grabs a fistful of weeds and yanks. The ground pulls up as the roots are forced out, but it leaves a smooth patch of soft dirt. Finding satisfaction in it, Percy grabs another handful, and another, yanking up large patches of weeds all around him.

 

 


	61. Ch. 54-Annabeth

When she wakes up alone, Annabeth isn’t worried. Percy hasn’t been sleeping well lately, and often gets up before she does. So she doesn’t worry until she gets dressed and heads into their makeshift dining room to find Percy not there.

“Is Percy still in bed?” Jason asks as she sits down.

“No, I figured he was out here.”

Leo looks a little sick as he asks, “Would Percy go outside?”

Annabeth shrugs, “I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s been skittish lately. He might find it claustrophobic in here.”

“Shit.” The son of Hephaestus curses, “There are cameras out there. They were off, but I senseed them coming back on last night.”

“You mean...If Percy went out there, somebody knows at least he’s here?” Frank questions.

Jason shakes his head, “They’ll know we’re all here. Maybe not you and Piper, but the rest of us have only been seen together since escaping.”

Annabeth sighs, “I bet he went for a swim. Back home, he went swimming before breakfast every day.”

 

When they reach the edge of the woods, Percy comes into sight. He’s dripping wet, practically shining in the early morning light, with his hands covered in dirt. There’s a pile of weeds sitting next to him, steadily growing as he rips at the ones close by. He has a patch of sand around him where they used to be.

“Percy?” Hazel asks slowly, moving up to him, “What are you doing?”

“The Persephone kids would have a fit if they saw camp in this state.” Percy grumbles, sniffling a little. Instantly, Annabeth can tell he’s more upset than he’s trying to let on. Looking around, she can’t really blame him. This is their home in ruins.

Annabeth moved over to sit across from Percy in the little patch of cleared sand. She reaches out to yank at some of the weeds close by, “I think everybody would have a fit if they saw camp in this state.”

He looks up at her for a few seconds before focusing back on the ground, “It’s not fair. We didn’t even do anything. We were punished for existing.”

“I know.” She sighs, staring down at the handful of greens she’s pulled up, “But we can’t change that now. It’s in the past.”

“You mean the future.”

Annabeth looks up at her boyfriend’s completely serious expression, “What?”

“It’s in the past here but since here is the future, it’s in the future for us. Which means, we’re all going to die.” She can see Percy’s muscles tensing up, his anger growing, “We’re all going to die, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Death, destruction, a break in the social norm, and oh yeah did I mention death?”

She looks him over one more time before venturing, “You’re freaked out because you weren’t in the video. It made you scared that you’re going to die before the rest of us, that you might never see your mom again, that you’re going to leave me, that this quest is going to fail because of you.”

When Percy doesn’t answer, Annabeth know she hit it right on, “You don’t have to be scared, Seaweed Brain. What will happen, will happen. We can’t change that. What we can change is what we’re doing now. You want to clean up camp?”

Percy just nods silently, Jason cuts in solidly, “Than we’ll clean up camp. We’ll clean up all the weeds and build something new from the ruins.”

“The cameras are running.” Leo mutters uncertainly, “They’ll know we’re here.”

“Then let them know! We aren’t doing anything dangerous or threatening them. We just want to live in peace.”

 

So they set to work, Annabeth can see Nico avoiding Leo. She can practically cut the tension between them. But Leo isn’t about to let himself be avoided. When he finally corners the son of Hades, Annabeth is crouching on the other side of the column, pulling at the weeds.

“Nico, baby, please. Just talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Leo.”

“I wasn’t going to do anything. I don’t want sex. I mean, I do at some point, but not now. I want to wait, to do it with you when we’ve been together for a while and we’re both comfortable with it.”

“You...you wouldn’t?”

“No, you’re beautiful and perfect and wonderful, and I refuse to do anything you don’t want. I’m sorry if I took it too far last night. Please come back to our bed. I couldn’t sleep last night without you to cuddle.”

Annabeth doesn’t hear Nico answer, only the gentle sound of kissing.


	62. Ch. 55-Jason

By the time anybody shows up, the demigods have most of the weeds pulled up and Leo’s made same basic equipment to help move the building supplies they have around. Jason feels bad taking away what remains of Camp Half Blood, but they’ve already agreed to first build a new monument to the gods. Annabeth already has it planned out.

But just as they all knew would happen, the military comes less than a week after Leo reported the cameras turned on. Jason hears the rumbling of the tanks approaching, and steps into the plan they’d discussed. By the time the tanks are parked, Jason stands at the hillcrest with Frank by his side. They do their best to look impressive; straight backed, broad shouldered, military stance.

Jason just feels relief as the commander of the unit doesn’t order them to fire. Actually, he comes walking up the hill to meet with them, “You kids are in contempt of Existential Code 390, resisting arrest, damage to government property on two accounts, theft, obstruction of justice, and I’m sure we could find more charges if we dug.”

He listens to the officer’s words carefully, picking them apart and analyzing for any subliminal messages. Not finding any, Jason simply shrugs, “Sounds like you’ll be pushing every charge you can on us. I’m assuming there’s only one result.”

“You’ll all be unwound.”

Jason nods, “As I expected. But that won’t be happening.”

“Oh, it won’t?” The commander asks.

Jason knows he’s being mocked but he forges on, “No it won’t. We are willing to make a deal; in exchange for information, you’ll leave us alone.”

At the word ‘information’, the commander’s demeanor changes. It’s almost like Jason said he has the president held hostage, “What information?”

“We know the location of the biggest parts pirates ring’s headquarters.” Just like that, it’s thrown out there. In reality, they don’t know it’s the biggest but some digging Frank did makes Jason fairly certain it is, “Information we’re willing to share in confidentially with you, or we’ll release it to every internet receiving device in the nation within seconds.”

“Are you threatening the federal government, boy?”

Jason bites at the back of one of of his lip piercings before answering squarely, “Yes, sir.”

“How do I know you’re not bluffing?”

They’d expected that. Jason turns on his heel and nods down to Leo who’s sitting at the base of the hill. The son of Hephaestus hits a couple buttons on the laptop in front of him, and a video starts up, projected into the sky. It’s of one of Frank’s many surgeries but the view is wide enough to show most of the room, including the company’s name on all the equipment which Leo’d covered with very noticeable black boxes, “The digital evidence we’re prepared to send out doesn’t have the name covered but you get the gist.”

Jason turns back to face the commander to find him gawking at Frank, “You were inside?”

“Yes, along with Piper.” He nods, “She and Jason were also at a secondary location we’re prepared to disclose as well.”

“We’re willing to tell you the locations along with providing any assistance you wish in exchange for the charges against us getting dropped and we’re allowed to stay here in peace with the video cameras shut down.”

He looks the two demigods over before answering, “You drive a hard bargain. I’ll have to make some calls.”

“By all means.” Jason nods, “We’re not going anywhere.”

A few minutes after the commander goes back down to his troops, Piper and Percy come marching up the hill. She wraps her arms around Jason which he appreciates since the whole thing has him trembling while Percy asks, “What’s going on?”

“He’s taking it up with his superiors.” Franks answers.

“I don’t like that the tanks are still pointing at us.” Piper mutters, brushing some of Jason’s hair from his face.

“Me either.” Jason sighs.

Gradually, the others come up to join them as they wait. By the time the commander returns, all eight of them are lounging around Thalia’s stump. Jason gets to his feet, followed by the others. The commander holds out a phone to him, “He wants to talk to you.”

Jason takes it, “Yes, sir?”

“Yes, Jason is it? I’d like to talk about your terms.”

He’s not sure who he’s talking to, but that doesn’t really matter, “Yes, what about them?”

“We’re willing to drop the charges against all eight of you, as long as you remain in the valley with the cameras on and you do not engage with the general populous.”

Jason glanced around before speaking carefully, “Sir, we just want to live here safely. Unwinding is not our battle, and we are not your enemies. Your enemies are the ones out there, wreaking havoc, and killing innocent people. After we finish building, we will gladly stay here without outside contact with the cameras off.”

“We’ll assure you get the supplies you need to settle, but we insist on having the cameras on. We won’t place any more but the ones already in place continue rolling. You’re a threat, no matter how nice you’re all acting now. We know that you’re dangerous. As long as you don’t do anything questionable, you’ll be left in peace.”

“And if you find we are doing anything questionable...?”

“We’ll be having another meeting like this.”

Reluctantly, Jason looks at the others. He can see the silent conversation going on between them. Leo can shut down the cameras or manipulate them, but it’d be easier if they were off. If that wasn’t happening however, “Alright, deal.”

 

After they leave, Nico looks over at Jason, “But unwinding is our fight. You can’t honestly expect us to just lay down and let it happen.”

“Of course not.” Jason sighs, “I had to tell them we’d behave otherwise we’d be on our way to harvest camps right now.”


	63. Ch. 56-Piper

Piper feels incredibly awkward sitting in the chopper with a bunch of soldiers. She’s the only one there. Jason didn’t like the idea, but he let her go in the end. She can see the ground flying by under the jet as they make their way to the border.

Around her, the soldiers are stony faced and unmoving. It unsettles her to be surrounded by them, and instead focuses on the clouds outside. She can tell when they’re getting closer, they start descending and the clouds get lighter. Piper watches as they go through them and the lake comes into view. She feels a chill go through her at the sight of the mansion.

She knows what’s in there, what they’ll find. Nicely furnished rooms, long hallways, fine food. But down underneath, in the bowels of the beast, are surgery rooms, probably more victims, freezers of organs.

Piper has to fight hard to keep from throwing up, “Yes, that’s it.”

They have her stay in the jet while they storm the mansion. Piper doesn’t mind, she doesn’t want to go in there again. She feels like the place is haunted by the spirits of those taken apart there, and they’re angry but she can’t really blame them. There’s a part of herself and Frank left there as well, like they’re spirits just drifting there because they’ve been changed there and even when they go home they’ll never be changed back.


	64. Ch. 57-Hazel

Hazel feels nervous glancing around Central Park. She’s never been to New York before the dream and she doesn’t find it as awe-inspiring as every seems to be expecting her to be. It’s nice, and she can understand why Percy loves it, but she’ll stick with New Orleans or San Francisco.

But Hazel can see that Nico loves it, or maybe he just loves the company. After all, he’s holding Leo’s hand on his right and has his sister on his left as they stroll down the sidewalk. If her brother’s happy, than Hazel’s happy for him. It’s also nice to see Leo truly happy.

“And you’re sure she’ll be here?” Hazel asks skeptically.

“Positive.” Leo insists, “I hacked into her Google Calendar and it said she’s here every Sunday.”

“So, it’s highly likely she’s there. But we know what she looks like so if we don’t see her we’ll just leave.” Nico answers, gently swinging Leo’s hand as they walk.

When they reach the chess match, Hazel recognizes the lady they want instantly. The lady’s tall, and aged, although Hazel’s certain she was beautiful when she was younger and age has been kind to her. There are laugh lines by her eyes, her long white hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and she’s dressed casual but in a way that lets you know she’s well off.

They hang back, waiting for her to finish her game--which she wins and Hazel isn’t surprised--before moving in like a flock of birds attacking. Nico takes the seat across from her while Leo and Hazel take either side. She looks the three of them over curiously, but she doesn’t say anything while Nico takes his first move.

Hazel’s never seen her brother play any game and it’s terrifying how focused he gets. Every move is perfectly calculated and timed, yet it doesn’t seem to strain him. She bets he used to play myth-o-magic like this, perfectly calm and focused, almost daring the other person to make a stupid move.

He stays focused for a while before asking, “You’re Sara Hemingway, right? The journalist who covered the demigod massacres during the Heartland war?”

They’d read the articles in question, Jason reading aloud to the rest of them, and had agreed that she’s good. Hemingway’s a good writer and a good journalist, and they’d be able to trust her with their secret--for in opinion pieces she often sided with the demigods by saying a defensive tactic isn’t the answer.

Hazel can see her scrutinizing them before answering, “And you’re some of the new demigods. I was hoping to be able to speak with you.”

“I’m afraid we’ve come here for more than just a conversation.” Leo tells her, taking Nico’s hand again while he continues to make moves with the other.

“Although we’re willing to answer as many of your questions as we can.” Hazel adds quickly, not wanting to scare this lady off.

Again, Hemingway scrutinizes all three of them before answering, “Alright, then why are you here?”

Nico’s eyes flick up from the game board for a minute to look at his opponent, “There’s a story we’d like you to cover.”

“I’m retired.”

“But you still freelance with the New York Times.”

She looks him over again, like seeing the scrawny fourteen year old boy in a whole new light, “Fair enough, what’s the story?”

“There’s a parts pirates ring, their headquarters is just over the boarder to Canada, but it’s lead by a well known American corporation. As we speak, there’s a joint force of American and Canadian soldiers storming their headquarters.” Nico answers calmly, “We’d like to make sure this is covered. If treated right, a raid like this could bring the company to it’s knees, make it completely rebuild. We have hope that in the mean time, without their propaganda on every commercial break, the people will come to their senses about the evils of unwinding.”

Hemingway is silent for a few moves, “And you’ve chosen me to do the coverage?”

“We’ve read all your work.” Hazel tells her, “And you’re exceptional. We thought you’d be able to put this in it’s right spot; public enough to be known, but not enough to cause an uprising.”

“And if I do this, you’ll answer all my questions about demigods?”

“All that we can.” Leo offers her his lopsided smile, “And we can give you a tour of our hideout.”

She looks them over some more, takes another few moves--Hazel gets the feeling she’s trying not to let on how excited she is about it--before answering, “Alright, you’ve got yourselves a deal.”

“Good.” Hazel beams, pulling a folder out of her purse and setting it down in front of Hemingway, “This is all our research, you’ll probably need to add some of your own, but it’s a starting point. There’s also videos from a security camera that document the mistreatment those held in this facility face prior to unwinding. You don’t want to know how we got it.”

Hemingway takes the file, “Seems I’ve just made a deal without even knowing your names.”

“Nico di Angelo.” Nico answers, “I’m a son of Hades. Hazel’s my sister, a daughter of Pluto, and Leo’s a son of Hephaestus.”

“And the others? There are reports of six of you.”

“There’s eight actually. Piper’s a daughter of Aphrodite, Percy’s a son of Poseidon, Annabeth’s a daughter of Athena, Jason’s a son of Jupiter, and Frank’s a son of Mars.”

She looks the three over again, before returning her focus to the game where they each only have three pieces left, “So, there are Greeks and Romans then?”

“Certainly.” Nico smiles, making his last move, “Checkmate.”


	65. Ch. 58-Percy

Percy’s surprised they’re invited, after all they’re supposed to be stuck in Half-Blood Hill for the rest of forever which really sucks when he realizes that no magic boundaries meant the snow could get in to leave all eight of them stuck together in Bunk Nine which seems to be getting smaller by the day. And yet, they’re invited to the party.

In some indirect way, this party is for them. Without them revealing that Proactive Citizenry was sponsoring a parts pirates ring, nobody would have found out they were also providing all the ads for both sides of the Unwinding debate. The breaking news story about all this lead to a short term shutdown of the company while they investigated within their innerworkings to “find a way to return to their original platform on the matter”. Most people expected them to just disappear forever, but it seems that won’t be the case.

The demigods keep on the downlow at this fancy party--Percy’s gotten mistaken for a server several times already and they’ve barely been here an hour--but they don’t mind. In fact, it was a big debate if they would attend or not when the invitation arrived. Jason insisted it would be rude not to go, and that there could be information announced they could use. Also, the food was better than what they’ve managed to grow so they’re pretty much hiding out at the buffet gorging while slipping what they can into their pockets to take home.

Mostly, they’re surrounded by rich government officials and businessmen so Percy’s rather surprised when he notices another boy about their age who looks equally uncomfortable. He smirks a little as he heads over to brunette boy, “Let me guess, you weren’t invited?”

Connor turns sharply to look at him, before smiling, “Not officially. Were you?”

“Actually, yes.” Percy nods, “We’re the ones who told them about the parts pirates ring so it’s kind of honorary to invite us.”

The other boy nods slowly, “I guess they wouldn’t be very public about that. Getting information from people like you wouldn’t go over too well.”

“People like me? So you heard...”

“Yeah, it explains why you were always so good at your job.” Percy decides to take that as a compliment while Connor’s attention gets diverted to the other demigods, particularly Nico and Leo who are feeding each other chocolates, “So...they’re finally together?”

Percy chuckles a little, “Yeah, it only took Leo almost being unwound for it to come out.”

He nods, “So, what are you all up to now that you’re not on the run? At least I’m assuming you’re not if you’re actually supposed to be here.”

“No, we’re not on the run. We’ve set up base in a valley in Long Island. Officially there’s only the eight of us there, building a farm.” Percy lowers his voice, “But we’ve got several hundred AWOLs hiding out in one of the caves. It’s not much but we’re doing what we can.”

Before Connor can answer, one of the servant’s is calling attention to the stage up front. Standing next to her is a boy barely older than Percy and Connor, but Percy quickly realizes he’s a lot younger than they are. He’s finely dressed in a rich suit, but that’s not what Percy focuses on. He zeros in on the boy’s face; an array of every skin tone imaginable starbursting from his forehead, and his hair contains every color and texture he’s ever seen along with some he hasn’t.

Percy knows who this is, although he’s completely forgotten about him throughout the dream so far. Camus Campus, the composite being created by Proactive Citizenry to be the newest super soldier. He doesn’t look much like a soldier to Percy, but he knows Cam can play almost every instrument in existence and his brain came wired with eight different languages fluently along with the highest IQ on record. Cam commands the room with his strange appearance and odd tone of voice as he speaks.

“As you all know, due to recent events, Proactive Citizenry has been out of commission for the past few months. Well, I am pleased to announce that has come to an end. Proactive Citizenry will return to the market in full force under new leadership: me.”

And Percy’s blood runs cold. That is not what they’d been hoping for. Cam was created by unwind scraps, pieced together from the victims of the epidemic. Of all people to support unwinding, it would be him for without it he wouldn’t be alive.

So, he’s shocked when Cam continues, “Our primary campaign will be against the unwinding of teenagers. While we remain in support of the bills being pressed to provide unwinding as an option for death row inmates and legally consenting adults, we’ve come to the executive decision that as far as we’re concerned the unwinding of teenagers is not only unethical it is also unconstitutional as those subjected to it are victims lacking the ability to oppose it. We plan to be vocal with this stance, and we hope to bring about change.”

So, maybe they didn’t mess everything up by getting involved. Maybe, just maybe, they’re helped bring about that change.

Percy doesn’t get the chance to relish in this small victory before a loud bang rings out and pain flares up in his chest. He can’t hold himself up and he crumples to the ground. When he moves his hand to the pain, it comes back soaked with blood. He can feel his heart racing in a panicked state, trying to circulate his blood but it all just comes out the bullet hole in his chest: the bullet hole. That’s too much to think about.

Connor’s above him first then Annabeth and Cam, but he can’t hear what they’re saying. He figures they’re calling for an ambulance but Percy can only feel himself slipping down into the cold darkness as his eyes fall shut and his muscles relax.


	66. Part. 8-Home

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”

~Edgar Allan Poe

 

 


	67. Ch. 59-Percy

His hands feel heavy, and weak; he can’t feel his toes; he can hardly breathe. But he can feel the grains of sand digging into his arms as though he’d been held in place there for a long time without moving, and it hurts. This isn’t a tranqed feeling, but a feeling of complete and utter exhaustion.

“Yes, dying even in a dream is quite shocking. You’ll require a few minutes to recover fully.” A voice says, soft and musical, like a lullaby.

It takes Percy’s addled mind a minute to register his words, “I died?”

“Only in the dream. It was necessary.”

Percy hears a groan next to him, and manages to turn his head towards the sound. He can see Annabeth next to him, curled up on her side so he can see her face. Percy knows that look, when she’s dreaming and it’s not pleasant, “Is she okay? The others?”

“They’ll be fine.” The voice promises, “It was your dream. You needed to wake up first, and it’s easier for you to leave as you’ve left it before.”

He finds that he’s blinking back tears at the idea of his own death in that world. A world that intrigued him at first, inviting him into the text and making friends with him, only to turn itself into his worst nightmare and terrorize his dreams. Now he feels like he doesn’t belong there anymore, like the world divorced him, and try as he might he’d never find safety in it’s metaphorical arms again. It could never provide him comfort, or hide him from the pain and horror of the life he lives. No, Percy finds himself mourning his own death yet again. But the death of that other him. The one who’s almost him, but not quite. The Percy whose stepfather tried to kill him; whose mother risked her own safety to help him escape the Juvy cops; who could no more lead an army into battle than he can major in astrophysics, but was brave and confident; who could win arguments and love easily. That’s somebody Percy can never be again. He won’t be able to close his eyes and imagine being there instead of fighting a giant.

Percy opens his eyes to look up at the god standing above him. Even as Percy looks at it, the god’s face changes. He feels a chill go down his spine as it focuses for a split second into a face he knows all too well; the burn scars on the right side of his face, the slightly mismatched brown eyes, and tousled dirty blond hair. And then Connor’s gone from the god’s face, fading away like the dream.

“You promised help.” He manages to say, “You said you’d help us if we survived your trial.”

“Survived is a questionable term. You’re all still breathing, and that’s not about to end because of something I’ve done. But you are not the same as when I put you to sleep a few minutes ago.”

A few minutes. How long had it felt like? A year? More? Percy can’t remember how many months they were there while only a few minutes passed by here. At least that means they didn’t fail at stopping the rise of Gaia because of this journey. And Percy knows what the god says is true. None of them will be the same after this. It strengthened their friendship, tightened the bonds, forced Jason into another aspect of himself none of them knew existed, and Nico? Would he go back into himself, push them all away again, and deny his sexuality?

Percy finds himself staring at his hands instead of the god’s face, but he looks up again. He gets the feeling they did survive. That Morpheus didn’t want them to come out of this the same way they went in, “You...you were trying to help us even if it wasn’t with a giant. You wanted us...to get to know each other better. Become better friends...”

The god thinks about that before answering slowly, “Have you ever heard of the Sacred Band of Thebes? Truly magnificent. It was completely comprised of one hundred and fifty pairs of male lovers.”

Percy makes a face, “We didn’t all turn gay if that’s what you were going for.”

“The Thebans believed that being a couple would make the warriors fight harder, because they were defending their lover. They were protecting somebody they loved.”

Slowly, realization hits Percy, “You wanted us to take the time to really get to know each other, see each other in situations we normally wouldn’t be in so we can understand each other better. So...we’ll love each other more, and fight harder to protect each other.”

The god smiles, “I believe you’re smarter than most give you credit for, Perseus.”

As he starts to walk away, however, Percy’s mind races to catch up, “Hey, wait a second, we still have a giant to kill. You promised us help.”

“Ah, yes, and help is almost here.” Morpheus agrees, “Best make sure your friends are awake before it arrives.”

With that, he disappears.

Jason wakes up first, suddenly sitting bolt upright with his hands searching the ground for a weapon, “Where is he? I’ll destroy that sick son of a bitch.”

Everybody else follows suit not long after with mixture reactions to finding themselves without a god.

“So...He just left us?” Frank mutters, sitting up and rubbing his head. He seems relieved not to feel operation scars there.

“Morpheus said that help would be here in a few minutes.” Percy answers softly, and they all turn to look at him. Everybody except Nico, whose promptly ignoring all the them along with the longing glances Leo keeps shooting at him. Percy can’t imagine what they’re feeling; having gone through all that with it feeling so real, and then come back to realize they aren’t a couple here.

Before they can set about questioning him, however, the warehouse doors open. A band of girls enter lead by a young auburn haired girl no older than twelve, and a black haired girl with bright blue eyes and a silver circlet in her hair. Jason moves before Percy can even process what’s happening. He runs across the room, practically floating, to wrap his arms around the dark haired girl’s waist and bury his face in her neck, “Thalia! I missed you!”

For her part, the sudden attack completely throws Thalia off. Percy can’t really blame her considering her ‘baby brother’ is taller than her by several inches and weighs about twice as much as she does. Despite her confused look, Thalia hugs him back and lightly scratches the top of Jason’s neck, “I missed you too, Jay.”


	68. Ch. 60-Nico

Nico can’t look at Leo, he just can’t bring himself to see the regret on the other boy’s face. He doesn’t want to see Leo realizing what happened in the dream was silly, that Nico isn’t that special, that he doesn’t need Nico.

However, he is relieved to see the huntress. Mostly because they’re lead by Lady Artemis and Thalia. The goddess can help stop them fight the giant and then Nico can go back to Reyna, finish this little mission, and disappear before the seven return to America.

After Jason lets go of Thalia, she rushes over to hug Percy tightly, “Thank the gods you’re okay.” She pulls back to cup his cheeks, looking Percy’s face over before her eyes flicker back to Annabeth, “Is he doing stupid things?”

Annabeth chuckles and little, and Nico can’t help but smile a little as she answers, “Always.”

“I resent that.” Percy huffs, “I’ve done idiotic things too.”

Nico stands carefully, brushing dirt off his pants and grabbing his sword, “Can’t we do all this later? There’s a giant that needs killing and a war that needs fighting.”

“I’m inclined to agree with the son of Hades.” Artemis agrees, “If Gration isn’t confronted soon, he’ll reach full power, and he’ll be a lot harder to kill.”

“Yeah, lets avoid harder to kill.” Just the sound of Leo’s voice makes Nico’s chest gets tight. He chastises himself for being so stupid. He hasn’t had this reaction to anybody else. Not even Percy had that large of an effect on him.

“Right.” Thalia nods, leaning over to ruffle Nico’s hair, “We’ll deal with Mr. Grumpy Pants later.”

“I’m not grumpy.” Nico practically growls, “And you were not given permission to touch me.”

 

Gration, of course, isn’t in the warehouse they venture into, but the one next door. As they walk over, Nico can tell Leo’s trying to get close to him, but Thalia has her arm around Nico’s shoulders.

“Seriously, Nico, you’re never going to get a girlfriend if you don’t perk up some.”

“That’s not why I won’t be getting a girlfriend.” Nico mutters without thinking about it, “Besides, I’ve heard the dark, brooding guy is in right now.”

She doesn’t get the chance to answer as Nico breaks out of her arms to lead the march into the warehouse. Instantly, he can see the eight foot tall giant.

Gration has a quiver on his back but is otherwise completely naked. The long pitch black hair falls in a single braid over his left shoulder to keep it out of the way. He’s deathly pale, as though he’d never been outside in the sun or moonlight. Almost instantly, Nico feels back for him. The big guy looks lost and confused like he doesn’t know where he is. Gration reminds Nico of Bab in a way, and himself in another.

“That’s a really big dick.” He can hear Leo breathe.

Annabeth nudges him, and Nico heads over to the left where she points him. Hazel follows him with Percy and Jason going around to the other side of the giant. Nico’s constantly reminding himself that Gration is a giant therefore evil and an enemy. But he doesn’t look that way. He hasn’t noticed them yet, and looks like a sad lost toddler.

Nico turns his gaze away from Gration, and instead finds himself focusing on Leo. The son of Hephaestus is desperately pulling things out of his toolbelt and tinkering with some piece of machinery Nico would have no clue what to do with. He’s sweating a little, and Nico can see the slight trembling of his tools as he works. It’s nice watching Leo so focused on something. That’s his element, what makes him happy. Nico just wants to run his fingers through those curls and tell him to relax.

He’s so lost in thought that the explosion surprises Nico. It comes right at Gration’s feet, making the giant stumble back and nearly crushes Leo. But Gration recovers himself quickly, drawing his own bow and quickly firing at the balcony above Leo--there the exploding arrow came from. Luckily, Leo has enough sense to get out of the way before the arrow hits with it’s own explosion, and causes the balcony to crumple along with the group of hunters standing there. Nico can see most of them still moving as the dust clears. Of course, whatever Leo was working on is now crushed.

“Hey, numbskull!” Percy yells, successfully distracting Gration from examining the fallen hunters. He turns just in time to get blasted by a spout of water from a bottle Percy’d taken to carrying. Jason quickly swoops in, directing a lightning bolt at the giant.

Nico can’t help but feel bad for the big guy. He’d just been minding his own business when they came around to bother him. Looking back, Nico can’t even remember why they need to kill him They must have a reason. He knows Jason had the idea that maybe his stygian iron sword would be able to substitute for a god, but Nico has a hard time believing that they’d just attack him for no reason.

“Hey, Hazel, wh-?” He stops mid-question as Gration decides to focus on Leo by trying to step on him. Nico’s mind goes into panic mode and he moved quickly. He rushes towards them as Leo moves out of the way.

But Gration is insistent, pulling out an arrow from his quiver to thrust it at Leo. The point doesn’t meet Leo however, for Nico’s in the way. It pierces his stomach which makes Nico’s eyes go wide in pain as he sword drops to the ground, and when Gration lets go of the shaft, he follows it down.

Nico can see the last volley of arrows arching into the sky, and bringing Gration down before blackness hits him and he crumples to the ground. Everything’s painful; his side, his head, something down inside of his chest he forgot could feel anything. He feels hands on him; they gently move his head into somebody’s lap before other sets work on his side.

With a groan, he manages to force his eyes up to see exactly who he was expecting; Leo Valdez is blinking down at him with tears in his eyes. Nico groans again but manages to mutter weakly, “Tears don’t look good on you, Valdez.”

Leo’s smile is shaky, but still there, “Why? Why’d you do it? You know I can’t...”

The son of Hades screams as he feels somebody pushing something inside the wound. He realizes it must be hunters tending to him, and--while before the dream he would have pushed them away--he doesn’t argue. Nico stays focused on Leo above him, like an angel, “You...You need to live...I don’t matter.”

After muttering something in Spanish, Leo shakes his head down at Nico, “You matter to me. You matter to all of us.” He leans down to press their foreheads together, “I read the books, what you did in the last war; we would have lost without you. And we’ll lose this one without you. We need you. You have to take the statue to camp, and save everybody’s behinds. “

Nico manages a weak chuckle as he feels his stomach area going numb from the herbs pressed into it. He can’t help but think how beautiful Leo is when he cries; tears stick to those long lashes, making them twinkle in the soft light; the slight red in his eyes only accents the brown better; he keeps sniffling, but only one side of his nose is stuffy so it makes a slight whistling sound. Then there’s having him this close again, and how Nico could very easily press their lips together to die expressing his desire for another human being.

“And I know you’re scared, you don’t think anybody there will ever want you. But does it really matter? I want you. I want to hold you close, and press kisses to your face, and make you laugh. You have to stay, you can’t die! You’re not leaving me! Just because the events that made these feelings arise didn’t actually happen doesn’t mean they just went away as soon as we woke up. They are real! This is real! We were prepared to live it out, to spend the rest of our lives together, and that can still happen. We can make it happen here! But that means you can’t die, you can’t leave me. I love you.”

He can feel Leo’s tears slipping down, mixing with his own tears of pain and happiness. Even though he’s in pain, and can feel himself slowly slipping away, Nico’s been waiting for those words. It’s something so little, but Leo makes him the happiest with little things. Those lips that seemed so tempted while Leo spoke, Nico silences with his own before resting his head back down in Leo’s lap to mutter as strong and proud as he can in the current situation, “I love you too.”

 

The next morning, after a long rest in the infirmary with Leo holding him close, Nico’s mostly back to normal thanks to the hunters’ nature healing skills. A scar stretches along his left side, longer and more noticeable than the others, but he doesn’t mean. It’s a sign, a reminder, of the first time Leo said it. This is stronger than any ring for them because it shows a stronger commitment; a willingness to give up their own life to save the other. Nico can’t help thinking that nothing can be stronger.

After they finish breakfast, everybody heads up deck without a word. They all know what needs to happen, but nobody wants to talk about it. Nico has to leave. He has to go finish what he started with Reyna to get the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half Blood. As they enter the sunlight, Nico feels arms wrap around his waist and Leo burying his face between his shoulder blades.

Nico smiles slightly, “I have to go, Valdez.”

“No.” He can tell Leo’s pouting, “I don’t want you to go.”

“And I don’t want to go.” He answers, “But I have to. We have to end this war.”

Slowly, Nico feels Leo’s arms loosen around him, allowing him to wiggle free before turning back to face the son of Hephaestus. He leans in to lightly kiss Leo, “Promise you won’t forget me?”

Leo smiles slightly, but Nico can see the tears threatening to come from him again, “I could never.”

“And you promise to come back alive?”

Before Leo can answer, Nico feels two other sets of arms wrap around him, and Jason and Percy’s voices answer, “We’ll make sure.”

Nico smiles, and turns to hug them both. He gives all of the others a hug as well before moving back to Leo, and giving him another kiss which Leo tries to turn into ten. But Nico knows he’s wasting time. He pulls back, taking a hold of his sword hilt tightly to keep from clinging to his boyfriend. Gently, he brushes past Leo, and steps into the shadows. 


	69. Ch. 61-Leo

A flood of relief comes over Leo as they finally dock home. Camp Half-Blood stretches out before them still in repair mode, but largely in one piece. He can see Romans and Greeks alike milling around together, and the Athena Parthenos gleams next to the dining pavilion in the mid-day sunlight. Everybody comes running up as they banked, but Leo can’t see the one person he’s been aching to hold for the past month.

He hops down, letting Nyssa hug him before asking, “Where’s Nico?”

Connor Stoll answers, “It’s naptime.”

“He’s in his cabin.” Travis adds.

Leo nods his thanks and rushes off. He just barely hears Jason telling Chiron that Leo will be back for the head counselors’ meeting. Even running, it feels like forever until the large black cabin is looming above him. Not even hesitating, Leo pushes the door open.

The inside is lightly lit with only a couple beds. They’re fourposters, silver with ornate headboards. The rest of the place is set up like a living room with dark couches and a silver coffee table. Leo barely notices the other wooden table in the corner of the room because curled up in the back bed lays his son of Hades. Black hair is sprayed out over the dark gray covers, his pale skin practically glows in the soft light. Nico’s clinging to a body pillow the same way he spent so many months clinging to Leo as they slept.

He’s about to wake Nico when a soft whimpering comes from the other side of the room. Leo turns to see the crib. It matches the theme of black and silver, but Leo can’t understand why it’s there. For a brief moment, he fears that the child is Nico’s, but knows that’s impossible. They’ve only been apart for a month, and there’s no way Nico would do that to him. Still, he stalks over to peek at the child there.

There’s a little boy laying there with black hair and pale skin like Nico’s. He’s tiny; Leo can’t see him being more than a few weeks old. Nico’s dressed him in a black onesie with little dancing skeletons on it, and the child is clutching in his little meaty hands a stuffed screwdriver with head head resting on a skull pillow.

Leo hears Nico groan and shift in his bed, and he returns to his original plan. He moves back over to the bed, and gently runs his fingers through Nico’s hair. It’s as silky soft as Leo remembers and he smiles as Nico moves into his touch. He smiles and leans down to kiss that porcelain cheek, “Nico?”

The son of Hades hums softly, “My Leo?”

“If you’d open your eyes, you’d see.” He smirks.

Then those stained glass eyes are blinking up at him, and Leo feels something in his chest mending because Nico smiles up at him and goes to sit up. But Leo shakes his head. He moves into the bed and pulled Nico to him.

“You’re really here?” Nico sighs, running his hand over Leo’s chest.

“In all my glory.”

“Shh.” He whispers, “I just got the baby to sleep, please don’t wake him up.”

Leo glances over at the crib, “Who is he?”

Nico smiles, “Michelangelo. He’s my brother. Father said his mother died in childbirth and he has nobody else to take care of him. I offered.”

“He looks like-”

“I know he looks like the baby from...” He breaks off, but Leo understands. Michelangelo looks like the baby they cared for in the dream Morpheus created.

Leo kisses his nose gently, “So, we’re taking care of a baby? That’s awesome! We can dress him in cute little outfits, and play with him at the park, and cuddle him, and spoil him rotten.”

Nico chuckles softly, “You’re really okay with this?”

“Of course.” He laughed, “I love babies. Not in a creepy pedofile way either.”

“My father offered to find an apartment somewhere for Michael and I. I would appreciate having your company.”

Leo’s face hurts from smiling so much, “Then you shall have it. You shall have all you wish.”

 

He hates that they have to leave. They have to get out of bed, the baby’s crying. Nico scoops him up so easily, changing the boy’s diaper before offering him to Leo, “Here. I need to make his bottle.”

And Leo takes the tiny baby in his arms, cradling the child close. He’s looking up at Leo with big brown eyes filled with curiosity. Michael isn’t used to seeing Leo, he’s somebody new, somebody interesting but not scary. No, the boy in Leo’s arms is too young to understand the idea of fear, that some people aren’t friends but enemies who will tear you down and take you apart.

Leo shakes his head; he shouldn’t be thinking like this. More so, he doesn’t want Michael to think like this. He lets the child take his hand, his tiny hands roaming over his own large one before getting one of Leo’s fingers in his mouth to suckle. And he smiles down at the child.

Nico smiles, rubbing Leo’s arm and offering him a bottle of warmed milk, “Here, he’s just hungry. You can feed him if you want.”

So Leo takes it, making the child whimper. But Michael quiets at the offered milk. He sits there in the Hades cabin with a child in his arms happily eating with his big brown eyes staring up at Leo and Nico whose head rests on his lover’s shoulder.

They sit together until a knock comes to the door, and Hazel slips in, “Boys! Chiron wants to have a meeting.”

Nico looks up at her and smiles, “Hazel, come here.”

She comes closer until she can see the little bundle in Leo’s arms. Hazel stops for a second before moving closer to look at the child, “Who...who is this?”

“Michelangelo.” Nico offers her a smile, “He’s our little brother.”

 

So, they run late for the meeting. But Chiron waits for them. Because there’s so many of them with the cabin heads, the eight of them, and Reyna with the heads of each cohort they meet in the dining pavilion. Hazel told them the others insisted because it was open, freer.

Leo can see Reyna watching Jason, and he can’t blame her. Along their journey home, Jason dyed his hair to include the purple and orange in his bangs, and his piercings are back. Personally, Leo likes it, it feels more like Jason.

Hazel sits down next to Frank and wraps her arms around him. Her brother sits next to her, and Leo takes the remaining seat next to him. Leo isn’t sure if Nico’s okay with public displays of affection so he forces himself from wrapping an arm around him and smiling down at the baby nestled in the black sling Nico wears. But when he realizes Leo isn’t making a move, Nico takes his arm and wraps it around himself to cuddle into Leo’s side.

He doesn’t speak much during the meeting. Percy, Annabeth, and Jason do most of the explaining of what they’d been through. None of them mention the dream world created by Morpheus, and Leo doesn’t argue. He doesn’t want to relive all of that. Out of everything, that’s the hardest part for him to face. Even though it got him Nico, thinking about all that brings fear into Leo’s body. He doesn’t want to be scared or hide anymore.

Half way through the meeting, Michael starts crying and Nico has to leave to care for him. Leo wants to go, but the son of Hades kisses his cheek and tells him to stay.

Without the distraction of Nico and Michael, Leo looks around. He doesn’t recognize most of the people here, but Connor and Travis Stoll are watching him. Leo vaguely remembers that they’re the Hermes cabin counselors and throw a lot of pranks, but he’d never talked to them much. He’d been too focused on building the Argo II during the Spring to make very many friends.

About two hours before dinner, they decide to talk about the rest later. Leo flees quickly, desperate to find Nico again. But he’s stopped by the Stoll brothers. They grab onto each of his arms, and stops Leo. Reluctantly, he turns to them.

Leo can’t tell who is who, but they waste no time. One says, “You’re the reason Nico’s been so much happier since he got back?”

And the other adds, “We mean, he’s almost back to how he was before Bianca died; talkative, and friendly for the most part.”

He thinks about their question before shaking his head, “No, I’m not the reason. Nico doesn’t need a man to be happy. He decided he wanted to be happy and so he became happy. I’m just a symptom of that.”

Leo can tell they don’t understand, but he doesn’t know how else to explain it. Something happened in the dream that made Nico realize that he didn’t need to be all dark and gloomy, that he could have friends. So, he made friends, stopped pushing people away, and then Leo’s boyfriend status came along.

 

After dinner, which contains a lot of warm welcomes from the other campers Greek and Roman alike, Percy invites the rest of the eight of them to meet his parents. Apparently, Chiron told them he was back, and they’d insisted on driving out to see their little boy.

The two adults are already waiting for them when they reach the bottom of the hill, sitting in their car. Sally Jackson hops out of the car when her son comes into view. Before they reach the bottom, Leo can tell Percy’s close to tears. And by close, he means already crying.

And Sally can see that too. She rushes over to them and wraps her arms around him. Percy, for his part, lets her take ahold of him. He doesn’t fight her, because after so long he needs to feel at home. And nothing’s more like home than a mother’s arms.

She holds him close, rubbing his back as Percy cries. Leo stands back with the others, but he can still hear her muttering to him, “Oh, honey, it’s okay.”

After several minutes, Percy pulls back from her arms, still crying, “No, no. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to go anywhere. Don’t make me-”

She silences him by pulling Percy back into a hug, and mutters, “Honey, nobody’s going to make you go anywhere.”

Leo can see Percy’s stepfather standing back by the car, giving them space. He tries to ignore the anger; this is the guy who first handed Percy the books, the books that caused their dream torture. But then Percy looks up at him, and Paul smiles. He takes his stepson in his arms very much not like a stepdad, but like a dad.


	70. Glossary

**Akron AWOL** -Also known as Connor Lassitor, an AWOL who became known for shooting a Juvy Cop with his own gun and later was killed in an explosion at Happy Jack Harvest Camp

 **AWOL** -One who is away or absent without leave

 **Boeuf** -A person trained from early childhood to join the army

 **Camp Half-Blood** -The home for Greek demigods located in Long Island

 **Camp Jupiter** -The home for Roman demigods located in San Francisco 

 **Chop Shop** -A building in a Harvest Camp where unwinding takes place

 **Clappers** -Suicide bombers who place chemicals in their blood system to make their bodies into the bomb

**Demigod** -The child of a human and a god

**Divided State** -The state somebody who's been unwound is ushered into

 **Harvest Camps** -A place where unwinds and tithes go to be unwound

 **Heartland War** -The second Civil War that was fought over reproductive rights

 **Juvies** -Cops that specialize in juveniles

 **Levi Calder** -AKA, Levi Garrity, a former tithe who turned clapper but refused to detonate, becoming known as The Clapper Who Didn't Clap

 **Parts Pirates** -Those who kidnap teens to force them through unwinding

 **Rewind** -A Person completely comprised of pieces from unwinds, the only one in existence is named Camus Campus created by the company Proactive Citizenry

 **Storking** -When a mother does not wish to keep the newborn baby, she has the legal option to leave the baby on somebody else’s doorstep. The baby then becomes the legal responsibility of the people in that home.

 **Tithe** -A child picked from birth by their parents to be unwound, usually for religious reasons of giving back to God.

 **Tranq'ing** -A way of knocking a person out using chemicals, often shot from a gun

 **Unwind Accord** -America’s second civil war ended when the pro-life and pro-choice armies came to this agreement, which made life inviolable from conception to the age of thirteen but allowed for the “retroactive abortion” or teenagers

 **Unwinding** -The process by which an individual is dismantled. By law, 99.44 percent of a person must be used and kept alive in transplant.

**Ward** -A person of the state, often orphans or children abandoned


End file.
